Achievable Image Resolution Using Non-Diffuse, Multiply Scattered Light

Abstract

Starting from the integral formulation of radiative transfer theory, we present a calculation of the intensity and direction of light traversing a multiply scattering medium in the isotropic scattering case for pulsed point source illumination. From these calculations we examine the point-spread-function as a function of detector integration time and sample thickness when the diffusion approximation is not valid. We show that image resolution better than the diffusion limit is theoretically possible using multiply scattered light for samples thinner than about 35 scattering lengths. Monte Carlo simulations are used to extend these results to the anisotropic scattering case.