Abstract
Light interaction with biological tissue can be described using three parameters: the scattering and absorption coefficients (us and ua), as well as the anisotropy (g) which describes the directional dependence of the scattered photons. Accurately determining these optical properties for different tissue types at specific wavelengths, and simultaneously, would be beneficial for a variety of different biomedical applications. The goal of this project was to take a user-defined g-value and determine the remaining two parameters for a specified wavelength range for an integrating sphere with a collimated white light input source system. A fully automated computer program and process was developed to collect data for all wavelengths in a timely and accurate manner. LabVIEW� was used to write programs to automate: raw intensity data collection from a spectrometer equipped integrating sphere, conversion of the data into a format for analysis via Scott Prahl's Inverse Adding-Doubling (IAD) C code execution, and computation of the optical properties based on the output from the IAD code. To allow data to be passed efficiently between LabVIEW� and C code program modules, the two were combined into a single program (OPT 3.1). OPT 3.1 was tested using tissue mimicking phantoms and determination of the absorption and scattering coefficients showed excellent agreement with theory for wavelengths were the user inputted single g-value was sufficiently precise. Future improvements entail providing for multi-wavelength g-value entry to extend the accuracy of results to encompass the complete system multispectral range. Ultimately, the data collection process and algorithms developed through this effort will be used to study actual biological tissues for the purpose of deriving and refining models for light-tissue interactions.