Correlation between intensity fluctuations and degree of cross-polarization of light waves on scattering

Correlation between intensity fluctuations (CIF) in the three-dimensional scattered field has been deduced, only provided that the fluctuating electric field obeys Gaussian statistics. This discussion results in the introduction of a new definition of the degree of cross-polarization (DCP) which depends on two locations and can reduce to the classical degree of polarization as its two locations coinciding. The concept of DCP in the general three-dimensional scattered field is considered to be especially useful, for instance, in inverse problems of scattering.