Polarization of scattered light in biological tissue

Abstract

The real-time nondestructive inspection of biological tissues begins to be one of important tools which could contribute to better human life not only in medical diagnosis but also in everyday mankind activities. A biological tissue is considered as a turbid medium in which light is scattered. Although single or multiple scattering in tissue multiple randomizes polarization states of incident light, linear, circular and elliptical polarization states in the medium are considered, and there are circumstances when appreciable degree of polarization can be observed in diffusive scattering. Our work shows that with a sufficient degree of sensitivity is possible to detect structural changes due to the aging of processed meat by using Mueller matrix polarimeter. Moreover, it demonstrated that the degree of polarization of the backscattered light is sensitive to the optical properties of specimen material and to its thickness.