Solutions to an inverse problem in radiative transfer with polarization—II

Abstract The equation of transfer for a plane-parallel medium is used to derive two independent sets of algebraic equations that can be used to determine the basic parameters that define the phase matrix for L th degree anisotropic scattering of polarized light. The equations require that the four Stokes parameters be measured only on the surfaces of the medium that can be optically thick. There are (3 L + 2) equations in each set for a general source distribution.