Propagation and depolarization of an arbitrarily polarized wave obliquely incident on a slab of random medium

The problem of how a slab of random medium affects the propagation and polarization of an arbitrarily polarized obliquely incident electromagnetic wave is investigated. The general formulation is given by using vector radiative transfer theory. The multiple scattering solution is compared with the analytical first-order solution when the optical distance is small and the comparison shows that the results are consistent with each other. The multiple scattering results for a left-handed circularly polarized incident wave show that the transmitted wave is still right-handed near the backscattering direction. The scattering signature obtained shows that for normal incidence one can obtain a maximum backscattered power if an arbitrarily oriented linearly polarized incident wave is chosen and that for an incident angle of 30°, a minimum backscattered power can be obtained if a linearly polarized incident wave is oriented at 45° or 135°