TIME-GATED TRANSILLUMINATION AND REFLECTION BY BIOLOGICAL TISSUES ANDTISSUELIKE PHANTOMS - SIMULATION VERSUS EXPERIMENT

A numerical method is presented to solve exactly the time-dependent di ffusion equation that describes light transport in turbid media. The s imulation takes into account spatial variations of the scattering and absorption factors of the medium and the objects as well as random flu ctuations of these quantities. The technique is employed to explore th e possibility of locating millimeter-sized objects immersed in turbid media from time-gated measurements of the transmitted or reflected (ne ar-infrared) light. The simulation results for tissue-like phantoms ar e compared with experimental transillumination data, and excellent agr eement is found. Simulations of time-gated reflection experiments indi cate that it may be possible to detect objects of 1-mm radius. (C) 199 7 Optical Society of America.