The Stokes matrix parameters and their physical interpretation by the geometrical theory of diffraction [radar polarimetry]

In this paper, a GTD decomposition of the diffraction matrix of a target is used in order to get a deeper physical insight into some parameters of the Stokes matrix. It is established that parameter D in Huynen´s notation is sensitive to the difference between the edge diffraction coefficients for hard and soft boundary conditions and is therefore an indicator of the presence of edges and a measure of the sharpness of edges. Moreover, it is shown that parameter C which has been identified by Huynen as a measure of the global shape, also contains information on the distance between edges