Espinosa Luna, RafaelAtondo Rubio, GelacioBernabeu Martínez, Eusebio2023-06-202023-06-202008-04-011559-128X10.1364/AO.47.001575https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/51159© 2008 Optical Society of America. R. Espinosa-Luna expresses his gratitude to CONACYT (project 46969-F), to CONCYTEG (05-04-K117-066-A02), and to Grupo Santander (program Visitantes Distinguidos at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid 2006) for the support provided for the realization of this work.A depolarization scalar metric for Mueller matrices, named Q(M) , is derived from the degree of polarization. Q(M) has been recently reported, and it has been deduced from the nine bilinear constraints between the sixteen elements of the Mueller–Jones matrix. We discuss the relations between Q(M) and the depolarization index.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1364/AO.47.001575http://www.opticsinfobase.orgopen access535Mueller MatricesPolarizationÓptica (Física)2209.19 Óptica Física