Femtosecond light distribution at skin and liver of rats: analysis for use in optical diagnostics

Abstract

In this study we investigated the light distribution under femtosecond laser illumination and its correlation with the collected diffuse scattering at the surface of ex-vivo rat skin and liver. The reduced scattering coefficients μ's for liver and skin due to different scatterers have been determined with Mie-scattering theory for each wavelength (800, 630, and 490 nm). Absorption coefficients μa were determined by diffusion approximation equation in correlation with measured diffused reflectance experimentally for each wavelength (800, 630, and 490 nm). The total attenuation coefficient for each wavelength and type of tissue were determined by linearly fitting the log based normalized intensity. Both tissues are strongly scattering thick tissues. Our results may be relevant when considering the use of femtosecond laser illumination as an optical diagnostic tool.