Simple parametric representations of the polarization optical properties of birefringent biological tissues in reflection polarization spectroscopy

The use of polarization reflection spectroscopy for investigating complex scattering media, including orientationally ordered optically anisotropic elements, requires a special choice of output parameters (represented by spectra) that characterize polarized light scattering by objects under study because the standard characteristics, such as the Mueller matrices, depend on the azimuthal orientation of the medium. We propose compact and convenient sets of experimentally determined output parameters that involve separate detection of co- and cross-polarized components of light scattered by a sample irradiated by a normally incident linearly polarized beam and include characteristics invariant with respect to the azimuthal rotation of the sample.