Describing the depolarization characteristic of rough surface by M11/M00 of Mueller matrix

In this paper, the transposition process of the polarization of light state is described by the Stokes-Mueller formula, according to which the depolarized capability of the p-polarized light by rough surfaces is discussed. The values of M11/M00 in Mueller matrix of the typical targets' surfaces are measured by experiment. The results indicate that the value of M11/M00 decreases with the increasing of surface roughness, which implies that the depolarized capability of the p-polarized light increases. Besides, the values of M11/M00 of metal targets are larger than 0.61, while the values of camouflage cloth, wooden plates and cement boards are all less than 0.3, which provides a possible way to detect metal targets by polarization imaging.