SPATIAL SPECKLE CORRELOMETRY IN APPLICATIONS TO TISSUE STRUCTURE MONITORING

Asymptotic behavior of temporal autocorrelation functions of speckle i ntensity fluctuations induced by tissue scanning with a focused probe beam is experimentally studied for the transition from a single-scatte ring to a multiple-scattering mode. Such parameters as the exponential factor (or the first coefficient) and the Hausdorff dimension are pro posed for the characterization and the visualization of the variations of the studied tissues' optical properties in generalized form, me st udied reversible transition between various scattering modes stimulate d by the application of certain chemical agents to the human sclera sa mples using speckle intensity correlation analysis; corresponding resu lts are presented. The possibilities of the scattering structures imag ing with local estimations of the exponential factor of speckle intens ity fluctuations are shown in in vitro experiments with samples of hum an skin epidermis. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.