Polarimetric Images of Biological Tissues Based on the Arrow Decomposition of Mueller Matrices

Abstract

Polarimetric techniques are widely used in a vast number of applications such as remote sensing, material characterization, astronomy and biological tissue inspection. In this last scenario, different polarimetric observables have proved their potential for enhancing imaging visualization. In this work we use a set of polarimetric observables derived from the arrow decomposition of the Mueller matrix for the first time: enpolarizing, retarding and depolarizing descriptors. In particular, the mean intensity coefficient and the three indices of polarimetric purity, the absolute values and Poincaré orientations of diattenuation, polarizance, entrance retardance and exit retardance vectors are considered. Results show images with enhanced visualization or even revealing invisible structures when compared to standard intensity images. In particular, thanks to these metrics, we improve the visualization of the necrotic areas of a Vitis rupestris leaf. In the case of animal samples, boundaries between different fascicles inside a tendon of an ex vivo chicken sample are revealed, as is the directionality of fiber tracts of the subcortical white matter in an ex vivo cow brain. The experimental results show the potential for biophotonics imaging and how polarimetric techniques could be useful for biomedical and botanical applications.

Synthetic Mueller Imaging Polarimetry

“…The arrow decomposition allows for the parameterization of M in terms of the following significant sixteen parameters [20,37]:…”

“…This is the reason why alternative sets of polarimetric descriptors (other than , kl ij m ) are frequently used to generate more significant polarimetric images that describe, in a more or less decoupled manner, the spatial variation of specific properties. A possible parameterization of kl M in terms of sixteen independent parameters directly related to specific polarimetric features is based on the so-called arrow decomposition of Mueller matrices [17][18][19][20].…”

Optimization and calibration of a polarization-camera-based Mueller imaging polarimeter for biological samples examination

“…Mueller matrix polarimeters are important tools used to determine all the polarization properties of different types of samples, with applications in many research fields, and valuable information to describe biological samples [1][2][3]. Many architectures have been used to retrieve all the elements of the Mueller matrix, in particular optical systems along with CCD detectors are used to measure all its elements in an extended scene [4,5], where each pixel is related to different ray paths of the transmitted, reflected or scattered light from the sample.…”