Abstract

Diffraction tomography theory describes both the forward and inverse problems in media where electromagnetic radiation propagation must be modeled in terms of its wave nature. In general, this theory assumes media in which the radiation is not attenuated. An important result from this theory is the Fourier diffraction theorem, which relates the two-dimensional spatial Fourier transform of the radiation which is detected in a plane to the three-dimensional spatial Fourier transform of the inhomogeneous structure imbedded in the background medium. In this paper we present a generalization of the forward problem in diffraction tomography to attenuating media, such as turbid media, with an emphasis on the turbid media version of the Fourier diffraction theorem.

© 1998 Optical Society of America