Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Background and objective: This paper is focused on the analysis of a method of estimation of the absorption and scattering coefficients of nonhomogeneous two layered structures in time resolved near infrared spectroscopy using method based on cumulative distributions of time of flight of photons. Methods: The research is based on the analysis of the superposition of cumulative distributions of time of flight of photons. This approach allows for detailed analysis of small variations in characteristics of time of flight of photons caused by an electromagnetic propagation in highly scattering non-homogeneous media. The method presented, based on the variation of statistical minimum distance estimation, is compared to the method of standard curve fitting. It is analyzed by fitting the results obtained from Monte-Carlo simulations of light propagation in the turbid medium to the data from the simulated measurements. Results: The analysis is carried out for a vast range of optical properties of two layered medium in reflectance geometry. Conclusions: The method allows the estimation of the optical parameters despite the noise in the measured signal, with higher accuracy and generally with smaller number of error function evaluations.

optical properties, approximation, light propagation, time of flight of photons, Monte-Carlo simulations, cumulative distributions