Biophysical Journal 52: 929-946 (1987)
© 1987 the Biophysical Society

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Differential polarization imaging. II. Symmetry properties and calculations.

Department of Chemistry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131.

ABSTRACT

Various differential polarization images or Mueller images of model objects are generated using the equations derived in the previous paper (paper I of this series). These calculated images include models of the higher-order organization of metaphase chromosomes, and show the applicability of the differential polarization imaging method to the elucidation of complex molecular organizations. Then, the symmetry behavior of the Mueller matrix elements upon infinitesimal rotations of the optical components about the optical axis of the imaging system is presented. It is shown that the rotational properties of the Mueller images can be used to eliminate the linear polarization contributions to the M14 and M44 images, which appear when these images are generated with imperfect circular polarizations. The relationships between the 16 bright-field Mueller images for four different media, i.e., linearly and circularly isotropic, circularly anisotropic, linearly anisotropic, and linearly and circularly anisotropic, are also derived. For the first three cases simple relationships between the Mueller images are found and phenomenological equations in terms of the optical coefficients are derived. In the last case there are no specific relationships between the Mueller images and instead we briefly present Schellman and Jensen's method for treating this type of medium. The criterion of spatial resolution between adjacent domains of different optical anisotropy is then derived. It is found that in transitions between domains of opposite anisotropy the classical Rayleigh limit must be replaced by a magnitude criterion which depends on the limits of the sensitivity of the detection. Finally, the feasibility of optical sectioning in differential polarization imaging is demonstrated.

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