title: Canonical forms of depolarizing Mueller matrices.
abstract: It is shown that any depolarizing Mueller matrix can be reduced, through a product decomposition, to one of a total of two canonical depolarizer forms, a diagonal and a non-diagonal one. As a consequence, depolarizing Mueller matrices can be divided into Stokes diagonalizable and Stokes non-diagonalizable ones. Properties characteristic of the two canonical depolarizers are identified and discussed. Both canonical depolarizer forms are illustrated in experimental examples taken from the literature.
authors.affiliation: LPICM, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau, France. razvigor.ossikovski@polytechnique.edu
authors.forename: Razvigor
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ossikovski