Light and the optical properties of matter have long been harnessed across different areas of research and applications.1 Rich information can be provided by the vectorial nature of light and its transformation by objects and there is still plenty of opportunity to explore these properties further.2^–10 The way in which an object transforms the vectorial properties of light can be described by the Mueller matrix (MM), which consists of 16 elements (mkl;k,l=1,2,3,4).11^–13 Although the MM forms a comprehensive representation, it does not necessarily provide an intuitive link to the optical properties or structure of the object.11^–13 That is to say, vectorial characteristics of the object, such as diattenuation, retardance, and depolarization [see Fig. 1(a)], are encoded within the MM elements.11^–13