Spectrophotometric system for measuring the characteristics of light scattered by biological tissues and humoral media

The structure, assembly, and physical capabilities of a spectrophotometric system intended for studying biotissues and humoral fluids are described. It can be used to investigate all the characteristics of scattered light at wavelengths of 400–1000 nm that are of interest for various problems in biomedical optics. Examples of these problems include noninvasive diagnostics of the structural and biophysical parameters of human skin tissue, analysis of the hemoglobin composition, sizes and degree of aggregation of erythrocytes, and evaluating the depth of penetration of light into biotissue. Pilot experiments on measuring the characteristics of scattered light are conducted in order to select an optimum operating mode for the system, estimate its errors, and develop ways of minimizing these errors.