Blink speckle spectroscopy of scattering media

The speckle method of characterization of multiple scattering media by squared-pulse modulation of the probe light frequency is described. This method assumes the analysis of the decay in speckle modulation that is due to the superposition of two decorrelated blinking speckle patterns. Theoretical predictions based on the phenomenological model of formation of partially blurred speckles under the condition of frequency switching are in reasonable agreement with the corresponding experimental data.     

Multiple scattering and intensity fluctuations in optical coherent tomography of randomly inhomogeneous media

An expression for signal intensity fluctuations in optical coherent tomography has been obtained for the first time in the framework of the theory of the multiple scattering of low-coherent optical radiation in a random medium. The contribution of the multiple scattering of low-coherent radiation backscattered from a randomly inhomogeneous layer, as well as the speckles of the interference component in optical coherent tomography, has been calculated.     

Effect of absorption of multiply scattering media on the degree of residual polarization of backscattered light

The effect of absorption in a scattering medium on the degree of residual polarization of backscattered radiation is studied in the case of probing of multiply scattering media by a linearly polarized light. An approximate expression describing the dependence of the degree of residual linear polarization of the backscattered radiation on the optical characteristics of a multiply scattering medium is derived within the framework of the phenomenological approach, based on the concept of the distribution of the optical paths of partial components of the scattered optical field under the conditions of multiple scattering, and with the use of the ideas about the similarity of statistical moments of the multiply scattered optical fields. The cut-off of the partial components, characterized by a large value of the optical path, because of their absorption, results in a substantial increase of the degree of residual polarization for the bands of the selective absorption caused by the presence of chromophores in the scattering medium. The results of experiments with model scattering media (whole milk) and biological tissues (human skin in vivo) are presented.     

Mechanisms of ultrasonic modulation of multiply scattered coherent light: a Monte Carlo model

A Monte Carlo model of the ultrasonic modulation of multiply scattered coherent light in scattering media is provided. The model is based on two mechanisms: the ultrasonic modulation of the index of refraction, which causes a modulation of the optical path lengths between consecutive scattering events, and the ultrasonic modulation of the displacements of scatterers, which causes a modulation of optical path lengths with each scattering event. Multiply scattered light accumulates modulated optical path lengths along its path. Consequently, the intensity of the speckles that are formed by the multiply scattered light is modulated. The contribution from the index of refraction is comparable with the contribution from displacement when the acoustic-wave vector is less than a critical fraction of the transport mean free path and becomes increasingly greater than the contribution from displacement beyond this critical point. This Monte Carlo model agrees well with an independent analytical model for isotropically scattering media. Both mechanisms are coherent phenomena, requiring the use of a coherent light source.     

Path-length distribution and path-length-resolved Doppler measurements of multiply scattered photons by use of low-coherence interferometry

We report first results of measurements by low-coherence Doppler interferometry of the path-length distribution of photons undergoing multiple scattering in a highly turbid medium. We use a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with multimode graded-index fibers and a superluminescent diode as the light source. The path-length distribution is obtained by recording of the heterodyne fluctuations that arise from the Brownian motion of particles in an Intralipid suspension as a function of the optical path length. The experimental path-length distribution is in good agreement with predictions of Monte Carlo simulations. In the heterodyne spectrum, an increase of the mean Doppler frequency with path length is observed.     

Visualization of scattering media upon backscattering of a linearly polarized nonmonochromatic light

The method of polarization visualization of multiply scattering macroinhomogeneous media, based on analysis of the spatial distributions of polarization characteristics of a linearly polarized radiation backscattered from a medium, is discussed. The effect of optical characteristics of the medium and the scattering geometry on the quality of the images obtained in the case of visualization of an absorbing heterogeneity immersed into a multiply scattering medium is considered. The comparative analysis of the quality of formed images was performed with the use of different polarization characteristics of the backscattered radiation as a visualization parameter. The theoretical interpretation of the obtained experimental results is given within the framework of the phenomenological approach based on the concept of the distribution of the effective optical paths of partial components of the scattered optical field. To calculate the probability density of the effective optical paths, the statistical simulation method was used.     

The measurement of amplitude and phase characteristics of time-varying optical inhomogeneities in transparent media

The solution of the phase problem in optics is considered as applied to the problems of studying time-varying amplitude and phase characteristics of a medium with the use of the spectral modulation method, in particular, for ultrashort times. The analysis is carried out by way of transilluminating the medium or the object under study with a probing optical signal with a known structure. The information required is extracted by directly recording intensity distributions for the spectrum of the probing signal transmitted through the medium and for the spectrum of the signal transmitted through the medium and subjected to additional modulation formed in a special way. The modulation should provide, to some extent, a visualization of the phase information. Two varyings of the analysis are considered. The first varying is related to the action of the medium under study on probing radiation in the form of its temporal modulation. The second varying is associated with the study of media whose action on radiation leads to redistribution of radiation in time and is described by convolution.     

Diffusion approximations for the scattering of resonance-line photons: Interior and boundary layer solutions

Resonance-line scattering in static low density media with large optical thickness has a diffusive behavior in both space and frequency because photons belonging to the Lorentzian wings of the line may be scattered almost monochromatically a very large number of times. This diffusive behavior holds on frequency scales and spatial scales, χ_c and τ_c, much larger than the scales associated with one elementary scattering of a wing-photon.A method developed for diffusion approximations in neutron transport theory, suitably generalized to handle diffusion in frequency space, is applied to the case of conservative scattering in a bounded medium with interior sources and zero incoming radiation. The method is to separate the line radiation field into an interior part and a boundary layer part which goes to zero in the interior. Each part is expanded in terms of a small parameter ?, which is the ratio of the mean free-path at frequency χ_c to the characteristic spatial scale τ_c.It is shown that the leading term in the interior asymptotic expansion is isotropic, zero on the boundary, and obeys a space and frequency diffusion equation. In the boundary-layer expansion, the leading term is of order ? and is a solution to a monochromatic transfer equation in a semi-infinite, plane-parallel medium. The emergent radiation field is shown to be of order ? and proportional to the gradient of the interior solution at the boundary. Its angular dependence, in the case of isotropic scattering in the atom frame, is given by the Ambartsoumian H-function. A comparison is presented between numerical solutions of the full transfer equation and asymptotic solutions. Non-conservative scattering and time-dependent problems are briefly discussed.     

生物组织单光程光谱技术的理论研究

高灵敏度光谱检测技术在临床诊疗和组织光学参数测量中具有极其重要的意义。文章提出了一种差分调制激光光谱技术,将经过生物组织后的散射光与参考光的光程差转换为光谱信号的频率特征,通过相敏检测技术将不同频率的信号进行分离,从而实现生物组织散射光的光程分离。文章分析了差分调制激光光谱的机理及信号的谱特征,并基于文献中的生物组织散射光的光程分布,从理论上讨论了差拍信号的谱特征,即光源调制速率一定时,光谱信号中的主频成分位置只与散射光和参考光的光程差有关;生物组织对光信号的衰减系数会影响光谱信号中频率成分的能量强度分布。分析结果表明,差分调制激光光谱能对生物组织的光谱信号进行光程分离,从而实现生物组织的单光程光谱检测。     

Similarity effects in multiple scattering of coherent radiation: Phenomenology and experiments

Based on phenomenological concepts of statistics of effective optical paths for multiple scattering of coherent radiation, an analysis is carried out of similarity effects observed for the dependences of statistical moments of the scattered field on the relaxation parameters with a dimension of reciprocal length. Within the framework of the diffusion approximation, expressions are obtained that describe the autocorrelation function of fluctuations of the scattered-field amplitude, the degree of polarization, and the normalized intensity of scattered light for media with a finite absorption length in the case of forward scattering of coherent radiation in a plane layer of an isotropic scattering medium. The results of the analysis show the similarity of the dependences of these quantities on the corresponding spatial scales. Experiments with model scattering media (aqueous suspensions of polystyrene spherical particles) supported the existence of similarity effects in multiple scattering. An experimental study was made of the relation between the characteristic depolarization length and the transport length for multiple scattering of coherent radiation in a plane layer. The effective value of the radiation diffusion coefficient providing the best agreement between the experimental and the calculated values of parameters of the scattered field is shown to be independent of the absorption coefficient of a medium.     

Light propagation in porous ceramics: porosity and optical property studies using tunable diode laser spectroscopy

By integrating gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy and frequency domain photon migration a new method is developed for the study of optical porosity and optical properties of porous media, in our case ceramics. The optical porosity is defined as the ratio of the path length through the gas-filled pores and the physical path length through the whole medium. The effective refractive index of the porous ceramics is also retrieved based on the optical porosity, which is then used to evaluate the reduced scattering coefficients of the porous ceramics. The combined method provides a new way to study light propagation in porous media. A modified Looyenga model is proposed to study the relationship between the physical porosity and the effective refractive index of the porous medium, which also connects the optical and physical porosities, and provides the possibility to use the present method for porosimetry analysis.     

Reconstruction of the characteristics of a light-scattering layer from its reflectance and transmittance: The neural network method

The problem of reconstructing the probability of photon survival, the optical layer thickness, and the parameter of asymmetry of the scattering indicatrix of an elementary volume from the dependence of the reflectance and the transmittance on the angle of incidence of radiation onto a layer of a medium with Fresnel reflection from the boundaries is considered. To solve this problem, a method based on the use of correlation neural networks is proposed. For training and control of the operation of neural networks, the reflectance and the transmittance of the layer calculated within the framework of the radiation transfer theory were used. For the simulation of the scattering characteristics of an elementary volume, the Mie theory was used. Estimates of errors in the reconstruction of the characteristics of the medium were performed.     

Measurement of optical constants for dense media by low-coherence dynamic light scattering

We perform the optical constants measurements for different absorption dense media by low-coherence dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. The estimated particle size is used to calculate the scattering coefficient of particles suspended in dense media. The path-length resolved intensity distributions of light backscattered from the absorbing dense media are investigated experimentally by virtue of path-length resolved performance in low-coherence DLS measurements. The absorption coefficient can be obtained by applying the measured path-length resolved intensity distributions to the modified Lambert-Beer law. As a result, we proposed a new low-coherence DLS technique in simultaneous measurement of the scattering and absorption coefficients of absorbing dense media.     

混浊大气介质调制传递函数的一般特征

基于混浊介质的调制传递函数(MTF)和在各向同性漫射光源照射下平行平面混浊介质出射光强度分布之间的等效原理,利用辐射传输算法DISORT数值计算了几种典型的均匀大气混浊介质的MTF,获得了整个空间频域内MTF的一般特征.结果显示,大气介质的MTF不但依赖于介质的光学厚度(散射和吸收),也依赖于介质的散射相函数.给出了大...     

同材质颗粒不同填充密度的随机介质中光场的空间分布

用时域有限差分法研究了同一材质的颗粒在不同填充密度下的随机介质中光局域化问题. 依据随机介质激光的实验参数,模拟了颗粒填充密度不同的随机介质中光场的空间分布. 结果表明：当散射颗粒的散射平均自由程与波长相当时,随机介质中的光场分布呈现局域化的特征,而且随着颗粒填充密度增大,光场的局域化程度增强. 因此,在同样的抽运激励下,颗粒填充密度越大的随机增益介质越容易产生激光辐射. 数值模拟结果与实验定性符合. 关键词： 随机激光 时域有限差分法 颗粒填充密度 局域化     

Acousto-optic-assisted diffuse optical tomography

We introduce and experimentally demonstrate acousto-optic-assisted diffuse optical tomography (DOT) using a holography-based acousto-optic setup. The method is based on probing a scattering medium with a localized acoustical modulation of the phase of the scattered light. The optical properties of the scattering medium are recovered with ultrasound-limited resolution by applying DOT reconstruction methods on a set of the measured intensities of light, modulated at different locations throughout the medium.     

Modulation-spectral method for analyzing the amplitude-phase structure of optical inhomogeneities of objects

An original solution to the phase problem in optics is considered as applied to the problems of recording and analysis of the amplitude-phase structure of optical fields used for studying fine structures and inhomogeneities in steady-state objects producing effects to fractions of the wavelength period. The problem is solved by probing objects using radiation with a known structure. Intensity distributions of the probing field are detected at the exit from the object by using the modulation-spectral method directly for the spatial frequency spectrum and for the spatial frequency spectrum subjected to additional modulation formed in a special way, which is realized in the plane under study and provides visualization of the phase information contained in the light field in some form. The intensity distributions obtained make it possible to calculate the two-dimensional amplitude-phase structure of the field analyzed and, hence, the fine structure of the optical inhomogeneities of the object analyzed for the chosen probing direction. For steady-state objects, probing in a number of directions is possible. Information on the bulk structure of the inhomogeneities under study can be obtained by using the information available on the symmetry of the object. Two variants of action of the medium on probing radiation are considered. In the first one, the action is related to spatial field modulation (described by the multiplication operation); in the second one, the action leads to redistribution of radiation in the plane studied (described by the convolution operation).