Abstract

Real contours of skin cancer are hard to detect by the human eye. A polarization camera is under development that uses the polarized light scattered by the first layers of the skin to create images that reveal these true borders. In this study, the transition of linearly polarized light into randomly polarized light during light propagation through tissues was measured and analyzed in terms of a diffusion process characterized by an angular diffusivity χ [radian²/mfp] describing the rate of randomization. The results are used to estimate the depth of imaging in skin expected for the polarization camera.

© 2000 Optical Society of America