Monte Carlo simulation of the diffusely scattered polarized light in turbid media

A full discussion on polarized light propagation in turbid media was presented in this paper. A Monte Carlo algorithm was used to simulate the propagation behavior of 2-D Stokes Vectors and Mueller matrices under various conditions. We considered the effect of different incident polarization states, tissue optical parameters and Fresnel matrices at the boundary, and then calculated the backscattered and transmitted Stokes Vectors and Mueller matrices. It is showed that both Stokes Vectors and Mueller matrices are influenced by tissue optical parameters. The regime where we can get clear signals contracts as the scattering coefficient increases. Furthermore, when the boundary effects were added into the calculation, results show good agreement with experimental results reported before, while omitting it leads to great deviation. The simulation also showed that the transmission patterns of Stokes Vectors and Mueller matrices alter in a different way from reflection patterns. Both transmission and reflection patterns can be used to derive tissue information.