title: Analytical calculation of the mean time spent by photons inside an absorptive inclusion embedded in a highly scattering medium.
abstract: The mean time spent by photons inside a nonlocalized optically abnormal embedded inclusion has been derived analytically. The accuracy of the results has been tested against Monte Carlo and experimental data. We show that for quantification of the absorption coefficient of absorptive inclusions, a corrective factor that takes into account the size of the inclusion is needed. This finding suggests that perturbation methods derived for very small inclusions which are used in inverse algorithms require a corrective factor to adequately quantify the differential absorption coefficient of nonlocalized targets embedded in optically turbid media.
authors.affiliation: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Development, Bldg. 12A, Rm. 2041, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-5626, USA. vchern@helix.nih.gov
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chernomordik
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Hattery
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gannot
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaccanti
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gandjbakhche
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D017785:Photons; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013053:Spectrophotometry