Noninvasive method and apparatus for characterizing biological materials

摘要

Biological material is characterized by illuminating the material with a beam of light, measuring light scattered from the material and then determining the condition of the material using the measurements. In one embodiment the angular line shape of the backscattered light is measured and then used to determine the scattering mean free path (1) and the absorption length (la) of the light scattered in the material to find out the condition of the material. These values so obtained are compared to values for a material whose condition is normal to determine if the condition of the material being examined is abnormal or normal. In another embodiment the temporal profile of the scattered pulse is used to determine (1) and (1a). The apparatus includes a laser for illuminating a section of material to be characterized, a streak camera for detecting light scattered from the material, a video camera for imaging the output of the streak camera, a computer for processing the output of the video camera to determine (1) and (1a) and a monitor for displaying the results to determine if the condition of the material being examined is normal or abnormal.