Influence of the relative refractive index on the depolarization of multiply scattered waves

Using the theory of radiative transfer, we investigate the interaction between polarized waves and a multiple scattering medium as functions of the relative index of refraction. To study this problem, we consider circularly and linearly polarized continuous waves incident upon a medium containing spherical scatterers. With an accurate spectral method, we compute the transmitted Stokes parameters through media containing different sized scatterers and different indices of refraction. Our numerical results-show that the circular depolarization length exhibits a strong dependence on the relative index of refraction, while the linear depolarization length does not.