Condensed Monte Carlo simulations for the description of light transport

Abstract

A novel method, condensed Monte Carlo simulation, is presented that applies the results of a single Monte Carlo simulation for a given albedo micro(s)/(micro(alpha) & micro(s)) to obtaining results for other albedos; micro(s) and micro(alpha), are the scattering and absorption coefficients, respectively. The method requires only the storage of the number of interactions of each photon with the medium. The reflectance and transmittance of turbid slabs can thus be found from a limited number of condensed Monte Carlo simulations. We can use an inversion procedure to obtain the absorption and scattering coefficients from the total reflectance and total transmittance of slabs. Remitted photon densities from a semi-infinite medium as a function of the distance between the light source and the detector for all albedos can be found even from the results of a single condensed Monte Carlo simulation. The application of similarity rules may reduce further the number of Monte Carlo simulations that are needed to describe the influence of the distribution of scattering angles on the results.