title: Quantitative spectroscopy of superficial turbid media.
abstract: We report a novel diffuse optical spectroscopy probe design for determining optical properties of superficial volumes of turbid samples. The fiber-based probe employs a highly scattering layer placed in contact with the sample of interest. This layer diffuses photons from a collimated light source before they enter the sample and provides a basis for describing light transported in superficial media by the diffusion approximation. We compare the performance of this modified two-layer diffusion model with Monte Carlo simulations. A set of experiments that demonstrate the feasibility of this method in turbid tissue phantoms is also presented. Optical properties deduced by this approach are in good agreement with those derived by use of a benchmark method for determining optical properties. The average interrogation depth of the probe design investigated here is estimated to be less than 1 mm.
authors.affiliation: Laser Microbeam and Medical Program, Beckman Laser Institute, University of California, Irvine 92617, USA. shenghat@uci.edu
authors.forename: Sheng-Hao
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: Bruce J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Tromberg
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spanier
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Durkin
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009391:Nephelometry and Turbidimetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014159:Transducers