Devices and methods for determining polarization characteristics from partial polarimetry

A system operable to produce estimated polarization characteristics of a material, comprising:

• a light source configured to produce unpolarized light or light having a particular polarization state, the light source positioned to illuminate at least a portion of the material;
• a detector positioned to receive reflected or transmitted light after interaction with the material, the detector configured to detect a first polarization state and a second polarization state of light that is received thereon, wherein the first and the second polarization states are orthogonal polarization states;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory including instruction stored thereon, wherein the instructions upon execution by the processor cause the processor to:
• determine an estimated coherency matrix eigenvalue and an estimated Mueller matrix throughput parameter using the detections associated with the first and the second polarization states, and
• determine an estimate of a full depolarizing Mueller matrix associated with the material by extrapolating a reduced-rank Mueller matrix to obtain all sixteen elements of the estimated full depolarizing Mueller matrix that identifies the polarization characteristics of the material.

A device, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory including instruction stored thereon, wherein the instructions upon execution by the processor cause the processor to:
• receive information representing two polarimetric measurements, a first of the two polarimetric measurements being based on interaction of an incident light with a material and detection of a first polarization state, and a second of the two polarimetric measurements being based on interaction of the incident light with the material and detection of a second polarization state, wherein the first and the second polarization states are orthogonal to each other and the interaction of the incident light with the material as part of one or both of the first or the second polarimetric measurements includes a depolarizing interaction;
• determine an estimated coherency matrix eigenvalue and an estimated Mueller matrix throughput parameter using the information representing the two polarimetric measurements;
• and
• determine an estimate of a full depolarizing Mueller matrix associated with the material by extrapolating a reduced-rank Mueller matrix to obtain all sixteen elements of the estimated full depolarizing Mueller matrix that identifies the polarization characteristics of the material.