Using polarized light to image biological tissues

OCTOBER 23, 2008--The polarization parameters of light scattered from biological tissue contains rich morphological and functional information of significant biomedical importance. Effectively probing optically thick turbid media, such as tissues, is challenging due to multiple scattering and the simultaneous occurrence of many polarization effects. These include difficulties in obtaining accurate measurements as well as the extraction and correct interpretation of the constituent polarization parameters. Now, Alex Vitkin of the Department of Medical Biophysics and Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada has developed a method that can account for the effects of multiple scatterings and decouple the contributions of polarization effects as needed for the practical application of these probing techniques in a biomedical setting. For more information, go to: http://spie.org/x27101.xml