Abstract
The polarimetric properties of normal and malignant blood samples have been studied with polarimetry and microscopy in this work. Obtaining the Mueller matrix provides at the same time all the polarimetric properties of the sample as its diattenuation, dichroism, retardence, birefringence and depolarization. These quantities could be of major importance for studying pathologies that involve a change of structure. The optical polarization properties in cancerous samples tend to increase because the cancerous region is more rigid than the normal surrounding areas. This would subsequently appear as differences in the distribution of internal birefringence that could be used to improve image contrast between the cancerous and normal tissue structures. The depolarizing ability of these images indicates that blood is a highly depolarizing material. The essential feature of the Stokes Mueller formalism that is used extensively in this research is summarized. It is well known that intercellular changes occur between normal versus cancerous cells: the transmittance of light through a normal blood sample is higher, retardence, depolarization and polarizance are lower when compared to a malignant blood sample. This study would prove useful as an early diagnostic tool for detecting blood malignancy.