Feasibility of Hepatitis B virus infection detection using Mueller matrix decomposition method and Mueller matrix imaging polarimetry technique

The ability to distinguish and characterize differences in the optical properties of biological samples is crucial in various disease diagnosis applications. The present study investigates the feasibility for utilizing the Mueller matrix decomposition method based on a UV light Stokes polarimeter and a Mueller matrix imaging polarimetry technique based on a He–Nelaser diode to detect Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in human plasma samples. In the Mueller matrix decomposition method, the orientation angle of linear birefringence (α), phase retardance (β), optical rotation angle of circular birefringence (γ), orientation angle of linear dichroism (θd), linear dichroism (D), and circular dichroism (R) are extracted for negative and positive human plasma HBV samples and the differences between them are analyzed. It is shown that statistically significant differences exist between the β, γ and R values of the negative and positive samples, respectively. Moreover, for both methods, the positive HBV samples show a greater degree of anisotropy than the negative samples. In general, the results confirm that both methods provide a feasible approach for distinguishing between negative and positive HBV samples and thus serve as potential tools for HBV detection and diagnosis. •Novel simple and cost-effective method of Mueller matrix polarimetry was developed for the detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV).•The practical feasibility of the system is demonstrated by measuring the effective optical properties and Mueller matrix elements of 325 real-world human blood plasma samples.•Capable to distinguish the healthy and HBV positive samples based on either the effective optical properties or diagonal elements of the Mueller matrix.•Provides a potential and reliable tool for hepatitis B virus diagnosis applications.