Photon hitting density

Abstract

Optical and near-IR spectroscopy and imaging of highly scattering tissues require information about the distribution of photon-migration paths. We introduce the concept of the photon hitting density, which describes the expected local time spent by photons traveling between a source and a detector. For systems in which photon transport is diffusive we show that the hitting density can be calculated in terms of diffusion Green's functions. We report calculations of the hitting density in model systems.