Near-Infrared Light Propagation in an Adult Head Model with Refractive Index Mismatch

Abstract

We investigate near-infrared light (NIR) propagation in a model of an adult head using an extensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The adult head model is a four-layered slab which consists of a surface layer, a cerebrospinal fluid layer, a gray-matter layer, and a white-matter layer. We study the effects of a refractive index mismatch on the model, calculating the intensity of detected light, mean flight time, and partial mean flight time of each layer for various refractive indices of the cerebrospinal fluid layer as functions of source-detector spacing. The Monte Carlo simulation shows that the refractive index mismatch presents very rich results including rapidly decaying intensity of detected light and a peak and cross-over in the partial mean flight time with source-detector spacing. We also investigate spatial sensitivity profiles at various source-detector spacings, discussing the index mismatch effect on the model.