PICOSECOND MAGNETOOPTICAL PHENOMENA IN TURBID MEDIA - TOWARD MAGNETOOPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF HIGHLY SCATTERING BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES

The behavior of a Faraday-active turbid medium under ultrafast optical excitation is investigated. As the degree of polarization of early ar riving photons is mostly preserved during the first 100 ps after the a rrival of the ballistic component, the possibility of using the magnet o-optical rotation of the Light polarization as a new tool for tissue characterization is addressed. A technique is proposed for determining photon-scattering statistics in turbid biological media. The analysis is performed on the basis that photons trapped in multiple-scattering events leave the medium with larger induced rotation angles. A measur ement of the magneto-optical rotatory power of turbid biological sampl es is possible if only the early arriving unscattered photons are prob ed. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.