Premium
Mueller matrix decomposition for polarized light assessment of biological tissues
Author(s) -
Ghosh Nirmalya,
Wood Michael F. G.,
Li Shuhong,
Weisel Richard D.,
Wilson Brian C.,
Li RenKe,
Vitkin I. Alex
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of biophotonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1864-0648
pISSN - 1864-063X
DOI - 10.1002/jbio.200810040
Subject(s) - mueller calculus , birefringence , optical rotation , polar decomposition , polarization (electrochemistry) , matrix (chemical analysis) , biological tissue , optics , chemistry , biological system , materials science , polarimetry , physics , polar , scattering , biology , astronomy , chromatography
The Mueller matrix represents the transfer function of an optical system in its interactions with polarized light and its elements relate to specific biologically or clinically relevant properties. However, when many optical polarization effects occur simultaneously, the resulting matrix elements represent several “lumped” effects, thus hindering their unique interpretation. Currently, no methods exist to extract these individual properties in turbid media. Here, we present a novel application of a Mueller matrix decomposition methodology that achieves this objective. The methodology is validated theoretically via a novel polarized‐light propagation model, and experimentally in tissue simulating phantoms. The potential of the approach is explored for two specific biomedical applications: monitoring of changes in myocardial tissues following regenerative stem cell therapy, through birefringence‐induced retardation of the light's linear and circular polarizations, and non‐invasive blood glucose measurements through chirality‐induced rotation of the light's linear polarization. Results demonstrate potential for both applications. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)