Robust depth selectivity in mesoscopic scattering regimes using angle-resolved measurements

Abstract

We study optical imaging of tissues in the mesoscopic scattering regime in which light multiply scatters in tissues but is not fully diffusive. We use the radiative transport equation to model light propagation and an l 1-optimization method to solve the inverse source problem. We show that recovering the location and strength of several point-like sources that are close to each other is not possible when using angle-averaged measurements. The image reliability is limited by a spatial scale that is on the order of the transport mean-free path, even under the most ideal conditions. However, by using just a few angle-resolved measurements, the proposed method is able to overcome this limitation. © 2013 Optical Society of America.