# Polarization constraints in reciprocal unitary backscattering

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how polarization states in birefringent media tend to mirror the input state after round-trip propagation, enabling simplified depth-resolved birefringence measurements with fewer input states.

## Contribution

It reveals a polarization mirror constraint in birefringent media that simplifies polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography measurements.

## Key findings

- Polarization states often mirror input states after round-trip in birefringent media.
- The mirror constraint enables depth-resolved birefringence measurement with a single input polarization.
- This approach simplifies polarization measurements in optical coherence tomography.

## Abstract

We observed that the polarization state of light after round-trip propagation through a birefringent medium frequently aligns with the employed input polarization state "mirrored" by the horizontal plane of the Poincare sphere. In this letter we explore the predisposition for this mirror state and demonstrate how it constrains the evolution of polarization states as a function of the round-trip depth into weakly scattering birefringent samples, as measured with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). The constraint enables measurements of depth-resolved sample birefringence with PS-OCT using only a single input polarization state, which offers a critical simplification compared to the use of multiple input states.