Abstract
Polarimetric imaging is emerging as a viable technique for tumor detection and staging. As a preliminary step towards a thorough understanding of the observed contrasts, we present a set of numerical Monte Carlo simulations of the polarimetric response of multilayer structures representing colon samples in the backscattering geometry. In a first instance, a typical colon sample was modeled as one or two scattering “slabs” with monodisperse non absorbing scatterers representing the most superficial tissue layers (the mucosa and submucosa), above a totally depolarizing Lambertian lumping the contributions of the deeper layers (muscularis and pericolic tissue). The model parameters were the number of layers, their thicknesses and morphology, the sizes and concentrations of the scatterers, the optical index contrast between the scatterers and the surrounding medium, and the Lambertian albedo. With quite similar results for single and double layer structures, this model does not reproduce the experimentally observed stability of the relative magnitudes of the depolarizing powers for incident linear and circular polarizations. This issue was solved by considering bimodal populations including large and small scatterers in a single layer above the Lambertian, a result which shows the importance of taking into account the various types of scatterers (nuclei, collagen fibers and organelles) in the same model.
Highlights
The interaction of light with matter may be characterized in a number of ways, such as transmission, absorption, reflection, spontaneous emission and scattering
We present the results of the simulations for the scattering in backward geometry and we investigate the impact of all model parameters on the optical response of the colon sample
The submucosa tissue was modeled as a suspension of large collagen spheres (r = 1.75 μm), at 50% volume fraction in physiological liquid (MFP = 19.69 μm, m = 1.38/1.36, h2 = 0.7 mm)
Summary
The interaction of light with matter may be characterized in a number of ways, such as transmission, absorption, reflection, spontaneous emission and scattering. Polarimetric imaging is based on the analysis of the modification of the incident light polarization due to interaction with the sample. As such, it may provide different and complementary information with respect to the usual imaging based on intensity measurements. The interpretation of polarimetric data may require specific modeling, especially for samples such as biological tissues, where the light typically suffers multiple scatterings before being eventually detected. This general topic of tissue measurements with polarized light and the related modeling is reviewed in Refs. This general topic of tissue measurements with polarized light and the related modeling is reviewed in Refs. [7,8]
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