Simplified calibration procedure for Mueller polarimeter in transmission configuration

We address calibration of Mueller polarimeters in transmission configuration and in the presence of noise. By comparing the maximum likelihood (ML) method and the extended eigenvalue calibration method, it is found that the ML method yields higher precision in the presence of noise. Moreover, we show that by employing the ML method together with simple constraints on the calibration matrices, it is possible to perform the calibration without using a retarder, and with only polarizers. This result is of great interest for the calibration of multispectral polarimeters. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America