Polarimetric contrast optimization for partially polarized waves

The author discusses the polarimetric contrast optimization for partially polarized scattered EM waves. It is well known that a partially polarized wave can be decomposed into a completely polarized wave and a completely unpolarized wave, and that the unpolarized portion does not depend on the polarization state of a receiving antenna. Thus the author optimizes the ratio of the two completely polarized powers in the scattered wave as a function of the Stokes vector describing the polarization of a transmitting antenna. Further, the receiver polarization is found by minimizing the power received from the polarized portion of the clutter. It is assumed that the time-averaged Mueller matrices for the target and clutter are known a priori by measurements.<>