Polarization evolution of radiation propagating in weakly nonuniform magnetized plasma with dissipation

A formalism is developed for treating the evolution of polarization in a magnetized plasma with dissipation (which is a birefringent and dichroic medium). An expression for the differential Mueller matrix describing the evolution in a weakly nonuniform plasma is found, directly in terms of the dielectric tensor of the plasma. The formalism is illustrated by applying it to the case where dissipation is due to particle collisions, when simple analytic expressions can be obtained. The formalism will be useful in more complicated situations, such as a plasma with Landau damping, where a numerical analysis becomes necessary.