Polarized light propagation in highly scattering turbid media with a distribution of the particle size: a Monte Carlo study

Abstract

The light propagation in highly scattering turbid media composed of the particles with different size distribution is studied using a Monte Carlo simulation model implemented in Standard C. Monte Carlo method has been widely utilized to study the propagation of light in turbid media with scattering particles because of its effectiveness and accuracy in approaching photon transport in turbid media. The existing Monte Carlo model developed at the Optical Imaging Lab at Texas A&M University has been extended so that several different size distributions of particles can be considered simultaneously in the propagation of light with two different incident polarization states in two different scattering regions-Mie region and Rayleigh region. The Monte Carlo model simulation produces optical parameters of polarized light, such as the Stokes vector, the Degree of polarization (DOP), the Degree of linear polarization (DOLP), and the Degree of circular polarization (DOCP), which all provide us with optical information of a given turbid medium. The analysis of these optical characteristics shows that, in Mie region, the light propagation is affected by both the incident polarization states and the size distribution. In Rayleigh region, however, the size distribution of the particles does not have a significant effect on the optical characteristics of polarized light.