The depolarization term in vector (polarization) diffraction tomography and its importance in microwave imaging

It is pointed out that the major difficulty of evaluating possible practical applications of vector diffraction tomography is that experimental data are still sparse, and the data generated usually involve either the Born or Rytov scalar wave approximations. In order to test the depolarizing effects in electromagnetic wave diffraction tomography, the complete vector wave equation needs to be inverted, which at the current state-of-the-art still cannot be done. Instead, for the inverse problem of image formation, oblique incidence on a circular cylindrical scatterer is investigated. It is shown that, due to depolarizing effects, reconstructions of the exact fields at oblique incidence deteriorate rapidly as the angle of incidence deviates further from normal incidence. These reconstructions are investigated