Cross Correlation of Orthogonally Polarized Backscatter Components

The backscattering of an elliptically polarized plane wave from two kinds of complex radar objects is considered from the standpoint of coherency theory, and the antenna polarizations that give rise to maximum correlated and uncorrelated orthogonally polarized components in the receiving channels are discussed. The resulting observations may find application in radar systems which use the correlation between the received orthogonally polarized components for detecting targets in natural and man-made interference.