Espinosa Luna, RafaelAtondo Rubio, GelacioBernabeu Martínez, EusebioHinojosa Ruiz, Sinhué Lizandro2023-06-202023-06-2020100030-402610.1016/j.ijleo.2008.12.030https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44288© 2009 Elsevier GmbH. R. Espinosa-Luna and E.Bernabéu express their gratitude to CONACYT for the support provided for the realization of this work under project No.83182. E. Bernabéu expresses his particular acknowledgments to ‘‘Flores Valles’’ Program of UCM to facilitate his presence in CIO. R. Espinosa-Luna, G. Atondo-Rubio and S.Hinojosa-Ruız express their gratitude to their respective Institutions for the realization of this work as part of the GIPYS initiative (Grupo Interinstitucional de Polarización y Scattering).A number of depolarization metrics is applied to a series of reported Mueller matrices. It is shown the depolarization scalar metric Q(M) provides consistent results with the reported scalar metrics like the depolarization index and the degree of polarization. It is shown Q(M) provides additional information about the internal nature of the Mueller matrices, specifically when the upper limit, 3, is reached. It is also shown the depolarization index and the Q(M) metric are only necessary but not sufficient conditions for the physical realizability of Mueller matrices. Finally, Q(M) is proven to be consistent in all cases studied here.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2008.12.030http://www.sciencedirect.comopen access535Rough SurfacesOptical-SystemPolarizationPolarimeterIndexMediaQ(M)Óptica (Física)2209.19 Óptica Física