Espinosa Luna, RafaelAtondo Rubio, GelacioHinojosa Ruiz, Sinhué LizandroBernabeu Martínez, Eusebio2023-06-202023-06-2020110030-402610.1016/j.ijleo.2009.11.033https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44282© 2010 Elsevier GmbH. R. Espinosa-Luna, E. Bernabeu and G. Atondo-Rubio express their gratitude to CONACYT (project 83182) for the support provided for the realization of this work. This work has been realized under the GIPYS initiative (Grupo Interinstitucional de Polarización y Scattering).A simple depolarization criterion for light is proposed. This criterion is based on the depolarization part derived from the degree of polarization formulation. Some reported Mueller matrices are employed to test its reliability and usefulness. Results prove that the criterion proposed can be employed as the first step to test the physical consistency of Mueller matrices.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2009.11.033http://www.sciencedirect.comopen access535Mueller MatricesPolarizationIndexQ(M)Óptica (Física)2209.19 Óptica Física