Abstract

It is useful to convert between the Mueller matrix and two different Hermitian matrices, representing an optical material or system. We introduce forms for the matrices for transforming between the column vector forms of these different matrices. A review of matrix algebra is presented. We find that there is no great advantage, from the point of view of matrix manipulation, in using quantum mechanics ordering rather than the optical ordering of the Stokes parameters, as has been claimed elsewhere.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

Three-dimensional polarization algebra

Colin J. R. Sheppard, Marco Castello, and Alberto Diaspro
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 33(10) 1938-1947 (2016)

Geometry of the Mueller matrix spectral decomposition

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Parameterization of the Mueller matrix

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Serial–parallel decompositions of Mueller matrices

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Expressions for parallel decomposition of the Mueller matrix: erratum

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