depolarization of scattered light

https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01598
The phenomenon, due primarily to the
anisotropy
of the
polarizability
of the
scattering
medium, resulting from the fact that the electric vectors of the incident and scattered beams are not coplanar and that, therefore, light scattered from a vertically (horizontally) polarized incident beam contains a horizontal (vertical) component.
Source:
Purple Book, 1st ed., p. 67 [Terms] [Book]