In the framework of further development of a unified computational tool for the needs of biomedical optics, we introduce an electric field Monte Carlo (MC) model for simulation of backscattering of coherent linearly polarized light from a turbid tissue-like scattering medium with a rough surface. We consider the laser speckle patterns formation and the role of surface roughness in the depolarization of linearly polarized light backscattered from the medium. The mutual phase shifts due to the photons’ pathlength difference within the medium and due to reflection/refraction on the rough surface of the medium are taken into account. The validation of the model includes the creation of the phantoms of various roughness and optical properties, measurements of co- and cross-polarized components of the backscattered/reflected light, its analysis and extensive computer modeling accelerated by parallel computing on the NVIDIA graphics processing units using compute unified device architecture (CUDA). The analysis of the spatial intensity distribution is based on second-order statistics that shows a strong correlation with the surface roughness, both with the results of modeling and experiment. The results of modeling show a good agreement with the results of experimental measurements on phantoms mimicking human skin. The developed MC approach can be used for the direct simulation of light scattered by the turbid scattering medium with various roughness of the surface.
The incidence of the skin melanoma, the most commonly fatal form of skin cancer, is increasing faster than any other
potentially preventable cancer. Clinical practice is currently hampered by the lack of the ability to rapidly screen the
functional and morphological properties of tissues. In our previous study we show that the quantification of scattered
laser light polarization provides a useful metrics for diagnostics of the malignant melanoma. In this study we exploit
whether the image speckle could improve skin cancer diagnostic in comparison with the previously used free-space
speckle. The study includes skin phantom measurements and computer modeling. To characterize the depolarization of
light we measure the spatial distribution of speckle patterns and analyse their depolarization ratio taken into account
radial symmetry. We examine the dependences of depolarization ratio vs. roughness for phantoms which optical
properties are of the order of skin lesions. We demonstrate that the variation in bulk optical properties initiates the
assessable changes in the depolarization ratio. We show that image speckle differentiates phantoms significantly better
than free-space speckle. The results of experimental measurements are compared with the results of Monte Carlo
simulation.
The growing interest in biomedical optics to the polarimetric methods push researchers to better understand of light
depolarization during scattering in and on the surface of biological tissues. Here we study the depolarization of light
propagated in silicone phantoms. The phantoms with variety of surface roughness and bulk optical properties are
designed to imitate human skin. Free-space speckle patterns in parallel (III) and perpendicular (I⊥) direction in respect to
incident polarization are used to get the depolarization ratio of backscattered light DR = (III - I⊥)/( III + I⊥). The Monte
Carlo model developed in house is also applied to compare simulated DR with experimentally measured. DR dependence
on roughness, concentration and size of scattering particles is analysed. A weak depolarization and negligible response to
scattering of the medium are observed for phantoms with smooth surfaces, whereas for the surface roughness in order to
the mean free path the depolarization ratio decreases and reveals dependence on the bulk scattering coefficient. In is
shown that the surface roughness could be a key factor triggering the ability of tissues’ characterization by depolarization
ratio.
We have been investigating the quantification of skin surface roughness by polychromatic speckle contrast. Speckle
contrast, being a measure of light coherence, decreases as coherence decays when low coherent light is reflected from a
rough surface. The main constraint of applying the technique to skin is the presence of bulk scattering along with surface
reflection. Bulk scattering also decays coherence and is a source of noise. To examine the effect of bulk contribution, we
studied speckle patterns generated by silicone phantoms with controllable roughness and optical parameters in the range
of human skin. We discovered that using the theoretical curve plotting speckle contrast vs. surface roughness as a
calibration curve overestimates the phantom surface roughness. We propose to use the effective calibration curve for the
proper skin roughness measurements. The effective calibration curve was obtained experimentally taking the advantage
of its weak dependence on phantom's attenuation coefficients.
Recent revitalization of interests in applying speckle techniques gives rise to the concern of measurement accuracy. In
particular, speckle contrast, an important metric in numerous optical techniques, is affected by many factors related to
light sources, propagation media, and receivers. As a result, proper experimental design is required to minimize
measurement errors. This article considers errors introduced by the discrepancy of incidence and observation angles, by
the limited number of available speckles, and by intensity saturation.
Background: The intermixing of light reflected from tissue surface and scattered from tissue volume complicates skin
surface roughness assessment by laser speckle technique, a non-invasive optical method based on the analysis of the
contrast of a speckle pattern. Objective: In this study we investigated optical discrimination methods to separate the two
contributions in a speckle pattern. Methods: Three discrimination methods, spatial, polarization and spectral filtering,
were implemented to suppress light from skin internal volume in a laser speckle device. In order to determine the
effectiveness of the discrimination methods, speckle patterns were obtained from healthy volunteers, and polychromatic
speckle contrast was computed before and after each filtering procedure. Results: Speckle contrast increased after
discrimination filtering. A simple formula was derived to calculate the speckle contrast associated with light scattered
from the skin surface. This corrected speckle contrast was proposed to be used for skin roughness assessment.
A simple physical zone model was developed to explain the formation of polychromatic speckle patterns within the Fresnel region. This model represents a reasonable compromise between complex theoretical formulation and simple estimations for practical needs, and allows the speckle contrast to be calculated as a function of geometric parameters for the optics and coherence length of the light source. The model was experimentally verified, and the results are consistent with our previous rigorous theoretical formulation.
Speckle contrast is widely used in various applications. In this work we develop a simple model to examine the influence of optical geometry on contrast reduction for polychromatic speckle the Fresnel diffraction zone. The model is based on the known fact that the sum of N independent speckle patterns decreases the contrast of the resultant pattern. The model shows how to construct zones in such a way that each zone creates an independent speckle. Theoretical grounds and experimental validation are presented. Practical applications of the derived formulae are discussed. The contrast reduction due to geometry is found to be significant for broad light low-coherent beams.
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