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Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT), as an increasingly studied treatment alternative, has been widely regarded mostly as a surface tissue treatment choice. Although some techniques have been implemented for interstitial tumors, these involve some grade of invasiveness, as the outer skin is usually broken to introduce light-delivering optical fibers or even catheters. In this work, we present a potential non-invasive strategy using the stereotactic approach, long employed in radiosurgery, by converging multiple near infrared laser beams for PPTT in tissue-equivalent optical phantoms that enclose small gel spheres and simulate interstitial tissue impregnated with plasmonic nanoparticles. The real-time in-depth monitoring of temperature increase is realized by an infrared camera face-on mounted over the phantom. Our results show that a significant reduction in the surface heating can be achieved with this configuration while remarkably increasing the interstitial reach of PPTT, assuring a ∼ 6 ∘ C temperature increase for the simulated tumors at 10 mm depth and ∼ 4 ∘ C at 15 mm depth and opening up new possibilities for future clinical applications.

This work analyzes the effect of experimental errors and measurement noise on Mueller matrix channeled spectropolarimeters. The main advantage of this type of polarimeter is the independence on temporal resolution, as it can be used as a snapshot polarimeter. The simulation of the polarimeters with experimental errors and two published extraction methods of the sample Mueller matrix are also presented. The Mueller matrix channeled spectropolarimeter (MMCS) setup consists of a mirrored Stokes channeled spectropolarimeter (SCS) as the polarization states generator (PSG) and a SCS as the polarization states analyzer (PSA). The SCS setup comprises two thick birefringent retarders followed by a horizontal linear polarizer. The effects of the thickness ratio of the retarders, the global retardance factor, retardance errors, axes alignment errors, and additive Gaussian noise are further studied to optimize the MMCS setups. In this work, we do not include a calibration procedure to improve the measured Mueller matrix parameters, but we study the sensitivity of the polarimeter to different configurations and error sources.

We present a method for calibration and data extraction for a Stokes polarimeter working with three different wavelengths simultaneously. In the Stokes polarimeter considered in this work, we use two liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) combined with a Glan–Thompson linear polarizer. A recently developed fitting calibration procedure is used. We use the same calibration samples and LCVR voltages for all three wavelengths, giving simultaneous measurement and calibration. We compare the performance of the polarimeter, after calibration, using four or six calibration samples in our experiment. To generate the four known calibration beams, we use a linear polarizer oriented at 130° and 30° with respect to the horizontal, a horizontal linear polarizer followed by a half-wave plate (at 632 nm) with its fast axis at 30°, and a horizontal linear polarizer followed by a quarter-wave plate (at 632 nm) with its fast axis at 30°. For calibration with six reference beams, we add two known calibration beams by setting the fast axis of the half- and quarter-wave plates at 130°. Experimental results show good agreement with the expected results, with the fitting calibration procedure giving an approximately 50% reduction in total RMS error with four calibration samples. There is a negligible reduction in the error when six calibration samples are used compared to the case with four samples.

We present a new method to calculate the complex refractive index of spherical scatterers in a novel optical phantom developed by using homemade monodisperse silica nanospheres embedded into a polyester resin matrix and an ethanol–water mixture for applications in diffuse imaging. The spherical geometry of these nanoparticles makes them suitable for direct comparison between the values of the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients ( μ a and μ s ′ , respectively) obtained by the diffusion approximation solution to the transport equation from scattering measurements and those obtained by the Mie solution to Maxwell’s equations. The values of the optical properties can be obtained by measuring, using an ultrafast detector, the time-resolved intensity distribution profiles of diffuse light transmitted through a thick slab of the silica nanosphere phantom, and by fitting them to the time-dependent diffusion approximation solution to the transport equation. These values can also be obtained by Mie solutions for spherical particles when their physical properties and size are known. By using scanning electron microscopy, we measured the size of these nanospheres, and the numerical results of μ a and μ s ′ can then be inferred by calculating the absorption and scattering efficiencies. Then we propose a numerical interval for the imaginary part of the complex refractive index of S i O 2 nanospheres, n s , which is estimated by fixing the fitted values of μ a and μ s ′ , using the known value of the real part of n s , and finding the corresponding value of I m ( n s ) that matches the optical parameters obtained by both methods finding values close to those reported for silica glass. This opens the possibility of producing optical phantoms with scattering and absorption properties that can be predicted and designed from precise knowledge of the physical characteristics of their constituents from a microscopic point of view.

The use of refractometers to investigate the nature of liquids is very common. Here it is shown that surface relief diffraction gratings can be used to measure the refractive index of liquids. Calibration plots showing the relation between first order intensity as a function of refractive index are shown. We also developed a microfluidic device behaving as a grating which is used as refractometer where a very small amount of liquid (microliters) is used.

Variations of the induced retardance in the aperture of liquid-crystal variable retarders LCVR and spatial light modulators LC-SLM are measured. It is found that the induced retardance, in LCVR, shows variations over the aperture which depend on the wavelength of the light used and the voltage applied. Larger retardance variations appear near to the edges of the cell. There are also larger variations in the maximum and minimum unwrapped retardances in the retardance versus voltage curves. These voltage values and the edges positions of the cells should be avoided in applications of these devices. On the other hand, the induced retardance is calculated pixel by pixel in LC-SLM. For the same gray level over the entire LC-SLM screen, there are differences in the induced retardance between pixels located in a central area and pixels located in the edges. For correct calibration of the LC-SLM, the retardance value as a function of gray level was determined, pixel by pixel.

We developed two versions of refractometers to measure the refractive index of liquids. One refractometer comprises a glass cell with a surface relief grating on the inner face of one of its walls, while the other one is a microfluidic channel in the form of serpentine that behaves as a grating. Measurements of the liquid refractive index were performed by sensing the first order intensity. Several liquids have been used including an organic one. Calibration plots are shown.

We present a method for using liquid-crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) with continually varying voltage to measure, both, the Stokes vector of a light beam and the complete Mueller matrix of a general sample.

This work presents an analysis of passive polarimeters with spectral channeling, referred to as Stokes channeled spectropolarimeters (SCS). The SCS setup comprises two thick birefringent retarders, followed by a horizontal linear polarizer. The simulation of these polarimeters and two extraction methods for the incident Stokes vector is presented as well. The effects of different retarders thickness ratios, the global retardance factor, retardance errors, axes alignment error, and Gaussian noise on root mean square (RMS) errors of the recovered Stokes parameters are described. Furthermore, two different, previously published data extraction methods are presented and compared. We found the best polarimeter configurations from the cases studied, and our results suggest that a mixed extraction process, using different extraction methods for different Stokes parameters, could give better results by reducing RMS errors by about a factor of 5. It is worth mentioning that although calibration is needed to account for the effect of errors, this is out of the scope of this work.

We present a comparison of two experimental methods to measure retardance as a function of applied voltage and as a function of position over the aperture of liquid-crystal variable retarders. These measurements are required for many applications, particularly in polarimetry. One method involves the scan of an unexpanded laser beam over the aperture, and the other uses an expanded beam from a LED and a CCD camera to measure the full aperture with a single measurement. The first method is time consuming, is limited in the measured spatial resolution, and requires more expensive equipment to perform the scan, whereas the second method is low cost, with the spatial resolution of the CCD, and fast, but in principle has variations of the incident beam over the aperture that affect the measured retardance values. The results obtained show good agreement for the average values of retardance for the two methods, but the expanded-beam method shows more noise, particularly close to the voltage values at which the variable-retarder retardance versus voltage curves are unwrapped. These retardance variations can be reduced by smoothing the retardance image, which makes the expanded-beam method an attractive method for polarimetry applications since it gives the complete information in the full aperture of the device with the additional advantages of low cost, simplicity, and being less time consuming.

We present a calibration method for a full-Stokes polarimeter. The polarimeter uses two liquid-crystal variable retarders (LCVR) and a linear polarizer to measure the four Stokes parameters. The calibration method proposed in this paper calculates the errors in the experimental setup by fitting the experimental intensity measurements for a set of calibration samples to a theoretical polarimeter with errors. The errors calculated in the method include the axes alignment errors and the errors in the retardance values of both LCVRs. The resulting calibration parameters are verified by measuring the polarization state of a light beam passing through a rotating linear polarizer, a half-wave plate, and a quarter-wave plate and comparing with the predictions for an ideal, error-free polarimeter. It is found that an average reduction in rms error of 55.8% can be obtained with the proposed method.

We present a comparison of the first numerical and experimental results for the scattering of light from rough surfaces using a recently developed variable coherence polarimetry source that permits obtaining information on the object without having to scan over incidence or scatter angle. We present, for the first time, we believe, the application of this source to a 1D rough surface and show how to analyze the scattered field to retrieve useful information about the surface. This source uses a liquid-crystal phase modulator to control the polarization as well as the coherence of the beam illuminating the rough surface. Changing the polarization state distribution at the source plane, by controlling the phase distribution on a spatial light modulator, gives a scan of two source spots over the rough surface. The scattered beam is analyzed with a Stokes polarimeter. The Kirchhoff approximation is used to calculate the scattered Stokes vector using the experimental incident Stokes vector and intensity distribution as a source. Good agreement is obtained between the numerical and experimental results, for a simple calculation of the number of intensity maxima obtained as the two first-order source spots are scanned across the sample.

A numerical study is carried out to find the experimental conditions necessary for the eigenvalue calibration procedure to work correctly in a liquid-crystal variable-retarder-based Mueller-matrix polarimeter. Using the error between the simulated experimental Mueller matrix in a polarimeter with errors and the expected ideal Mueller matrices for four calibration samples, the maximum experimental errors are estimated for a successful eigenvalue calibration. It is found that the retarder axes’ orientations have smaller permitted errors than the retardation values.

The design and construction of a Full-Stokes Imaging polarimeter is presented. The device uses a telescope optical system and a polarization state analyzer (PSA) to obtain polarimetric images on a CCD. The PSA employs two liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVR) and a linear polarizer to measure the four Stokes parameters. The Stokes polarimetry method used in this paper is based on the application of six combinations of retardance values on the LCVRs. A well-known method is used to extract all the Stokes vector parameters from this intensity data. Due to experimental errors, a calibration is necessary. The calibration method used in this paper, also calculates the errors in the experimental set-up by fitting the experimental intensity measurements for the calibration samples to a theoretical polarimeter with errors. In this case, we used incident 45° polarized light to control the output polarization, and six calibration samples. The errors calculated in the method include the axes alignment errors and the errors in the retardance values of both LCVRs. The acquisition of Stokes images used a telescope optical system with a CCD camera.

The effect of Seidel aberrations on the focusing of ultrashort optical pulses by a perfectly conducting spherical mirror, which is a dispersionless system, is presented in this paper showing that aberrations change the pulse duration.

The gradual process in which the crystalline lens is cloudy due to the appearance of elements giving rise to variations in the refractive index is known as cataract. Clinical assessment is usually complicated because it considers patient's perception, and individuals with similar development have different visual deficits. This work presents a model which considers the fluctuations in the refractive index as spherical particles produce measurable scatter radial profiles patterns on the retina. Measurements for 2 different wavelengths simultaneously provide information on particle size and a quantitative assessment by measurement of the fluctuations of the refractive index.

In this work we present an Autocorrelation z-scan technique to measure, simultaneously, the spatial and temporal distribution of femtosecond pulses near the focal region of lenses. A second-order collinear autocorrelator is implemented before the lens under test to estimate the pulse width. Signals are obtained by translating a Two Photon Absorption (TPA) sensor along the optical axis and by measuring the second-order autocorrelation trace at each position z. The DC signal, which is typically not considered important, is taken into account since we have found that this signal provides relevant information. Experimental results are presented for different lenses and input wavefronts.

We present the construction of a femtosecond laser, based on a titanium sapphire crystal. This laser produce pulses of 20 fs. We also present theoretical results for the electric field distribution near the focal plane of a lens for gaussian illumination under the influence of primary aberrations: spherical aberrations, coma, astigmatism and field curvature, for an achromatic doublet. The theoretical results are compared with results obtained with the laser system constructed.

A recently developed numerical method is used to calculate the single- and double-scattered Mueller matrices for scattering of vector-electromagnetic waves from rough surfaces. Calculations are performed for the case of a single groove and a single rib on a silicon surface and results are compared to the published experimental results. The calculated results show good agreement with the experimental results for the groove case and poorer agreement with the rib case, probably due to errors in the experimental construction of the rib. It is found that, for the cases studied here, variations of the sign with scatter angle in individual Mueller matrix elements are associated with the presence of double- (or multiple-)scattered light, as has been found previously for scalar diffraction calculations in Gaussian randomly rough surfaces.

We calculate the electric field of few-optical-cycle pulses at the focus of a perfectly conducting mirror by adding coherently the Airy diffraction patterns for each pulse frequency. We will show that the pulse suffers temporal spreading generated by a change in the spectrum of the pulse as a function of position in the focal plane, which introduces spatial chirp to the pulse. A double pulse appears near to the diffraction minima of the carrier frequency due to the variations in the spectra.

Here we present a refractometer for liquids based on a sinusoidal relief grating immersed in a small cuvette. He – Ne light is sent to the cuvette + grating device where it is diffracted. Zero, +1 and -1 orders appear. It is possible to calibrate the device by measuring +1 order intensity, when different liquids with known refractive index are poured in the cuvette. A theoretical study has been developed that supports the experimental results.

In this work we present a method used to study the spherical and chromatic aberrations contribution near the focal point of a refractive optical system. The actual focal position is measured by scanning a pinhole attached on the front of a power detector, which are scanned along the optical axis using a motorized stage with 1 μm resolution. Spherical aberration contribution was analyzed by changing the pupil aperture, by modifying the size of the input iris diaphragm and for each case, measuring the actual laser power vs the detector position. Chromatic aberration was analyzed by performing the same procedure but in this case we used an ultra-broad-band femtosecond laser. The results between ML and CW operation were compare. Experimental results are presented.

A comparison between two experimental techniques to characterize retardance as a function of applied voltage of liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVR) is presented. In the first method the variable retarder was rotated between two polarizers with their transmission axes parallel, and the retardance was calculated from the Fourier series coefficients for each applied voltage. The second method involved using two polarizers with their transmission axes perpendicular to each other, the variable retarder was placed between the polarizers with its optical axis at 45° from the horizontal, and a final stage known as "phase unwrapping" is used on experimental data to obtain the voltage-retardance function. With these two experimental methods, the voltage-retardance relationship was obtained. To verify the accuracy of this characterization a second experiment involving the production of specific polarization states was performed as the basis of a Mueller polarimeter. A method based on measuring the optical signal resulting from the application of a predetermined set of fixed values of retardance in each retarder was used. 16 elements of the Mueller matrix of a polarizer with its transmission axis at 0° and 90° were measured, and the results are compared to the expected theoretical values.

Light scattering has been used as a method of characterizing material or surface roughness in different areas of the science and technology, usually the surface is illuminated with light and the pattern of scattering is measured above the surface. In the literature, the scattered light has been measured using an incident beam with a diameter on the order of a few cm for surfaces with roughness scales of the order of microns, mainly to avoid problems with the speckle pattern of light. However, this kind of measurement does not give information on local variations in roughness or defects present in the sample. Also, it has been reported in many studies that the polarization of the scattered light is affected by the surface material and roughness. In this paper we present a novel experimental device used to identify local defects on surfaces by the measurement of the scattered light pattern using laser light focused onto the surface. We present results of experimental measurements for two surfaces with roughness and defects of the order of 6 to 60 microns using sizes of incident beam of the same order and we compare the results of experimental cases with results of numerical calculation based on the Kirchhoff Approximation of light scattering by rough surfaces. We include preliminary results from the effect on the pattern of light scattering as a function of the polarization state by using focused light to illuminate the surface, we calculate the Mueller matrix for the equivalent period of the surface micro-manufactured experimentally. Finally we conclude about the validity of the method.

This paper presents calculations of a new formulation of the three‐dimensional Kirchhoff approximation which allows calculation of the scattering of vector waves from two-dimensional (2D) metal and dielectric rough surfaces containing infinite slopes. Results are presented for scattering from metal surfaces with rectangular surface structures. This type of surface has applications, for example, in remote sensing and in testing or imaging of printed circuits. Some calculations for rectangular-shaped grooves in a plane are presented for the 2D surface method and are compared to previously published results using a different method of calculation. Good agreement is found between the results for the different calculation methods.

An optimized Mueller-matrix polarimeter is simulated. The polarimeter is optimized by finding the configurations of the polarization state generator and polarization state analyzer that give the minimum condition number. Noise is included in the measurement of the polarimeter intensities, and the eigenvalue calibration procedure is used to reduce the errors in the final Mueller matrix. Controlled errors are introduced to the polarimeter configuration, and the error in the final measured Mueller matrix is calculated as a function of these configuration errors. It is found that the alignment of the retarder axes in the polarimeter is much more important than the use of the ideal, optimized retardance values. In particular, the misalignment of the retarders farthest from the sample is the error source with the highest impact in the precision of the polarimeter.

We present a new technique that we have defined as the z-scan confocal method to determine the location and size of the focal spot in a tightly focused ultrashort laser pulse. The method permits accurate positioning of a target in the focal spot with a fast response. The technique is designed to help to automatize the location of an overdense target in focus in a laser plasma experiment and suitable to be implemented in a closed loop configuration setup. The method allows for a fast localization of the focal position and the relative motion of the target with respect to it. As an example of the potential of the technique we have measured the defocusing of a fast rotating disc in several radii to reconstruct the motion of the disc at focus.

A low-cost micro-facet solar concentrator is proposed. A large number of small flat mirrors are situated in a parabolic surface to approximate a large parabolic mirror. Low-cost commercial flat mirrors can be used for manufacturing such concentrators. Geometrical analyses show that this concentrator will have a concentration rate of some hundreds of suns. The problems of production of micro mirrors, support components, and the automatic assembly of the concentrator are discussed. Rough estimations show that the cost of the concentrator should be ∼$55 per square metre of concentrator surface.

Scattering of light from chemically etched InP surfaces is studied in the present paper. A model is developed to describe the randomly rough surfaces produced by chemical etching and this model is used in a numerical simulation using the Kirchhoff approximation to calculate the scattered intensity distribution from the surfaces. Comparisons between the numerical results and experimental measurements for an incident wavelength of 633 nm show good agreement. Numerical simulation results are presented to show the variation of the scattered intensity distribution for surfaces with different times of chemical etching. These results are useful for characterization or control of this type of surface.

We present the mechanical design and polarization optics of a goniometric scatterometer for studying the polarized light scattering from 2D rough surfaces. The optical instrumentation includes a Mueller polarimeter based on liquid-crystal retarders.

The problem of extraction of information from the capacitance measurement between a Gaussian rough surface and a controlled electrode is studied with 2D numerical simulations. It is shown that with a plane electrode it is possible to obtain information on the standard deviation of the height, but not on the correlation length. With a corrugated, periodic electrode, on the other hand, information on the correlation length can be obtained without much difficulty, but the determination of the rms value of the height variations of the surface is limited due to poor depth resolution. Considerations of the results of numerical calculations of Gaussian randomly rough surfaces with a plane electrode and with a corrugated electrode suggest a simple method of obtaining the statistics of this type of surface.

A new device designed to measure light scattered from a bi-dimensional rough surface is discussed. A description of the system and some test procedures are presented as is an analysis of the results obtained with the instrument for two different diffraction apertures, a one-dimensional and a bi-dimensional rough surface. The instrument works in the visible and near infrared region of the spectrum and the preliminary results presented here agree with previously obtained data.

In this paper, numerical calculations are performed to compare scattered light distributions for light reflected from randomly rough surfaces in the converging and diverging illumination geometries. It is found that the enhanced backscatter peak can be measured accurately if the source and detector are at the same distance in the diverging geometry, and if the source and detector distances are approximately 100 times the size of the illuminated surface in the converging geometry.

We present a method for calibration and data extraction for a nonoptimized Mueller matrix polarimeter. The advantage of this type of method is a reduction in measurement time for multiwavelength systems or in systems with slow response times. The calibration process requires the measurement of four known polarization devices. Here we use free-space transmission, a horizontal and a vertical linear polarizer, and a quarter-wave retarder with its fast axis at 30° to the horizontal. Experimental measurements of rotating quarter-wave and half-wave retarders show that accurate results can be obtained with the proposed method.

We present three methods for calculating the spatio-temporal electric field of ultra-short pulses near the focal point of an optical system. The first method is the Riemann’s sum-based direct-integration method, which is used as a comparison for the other two methods. The other methods are a triple fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm and a combined FFT/quadrature algorithm. The proposed triple FFT method reduces dramatically the numerical integration time compared to the other two methods. In the FFT, the pixel size in the focal plane depends on the wavelength, so the pixel size changes for each frequency of the pulse. In this paper, we propose a way to overcome this problem giving a reliable, fast focus-field calculation. As an example, the electric field of the pulse at the focal region of a low numerical aperture mirror is evaluated by using the scalar diffraction theory, and results of the focusing pulse with the three methods are presented for a one-optical-cycle unchirped pulse beam, 2.7 fs at 810 nm, incident on the mirror. However, the FFT algorithm also works for the focusing of more complex optical systems such as high numerical aperture optical systems with aberrations and dispersion.

We study femtosecond pulses at the focal plane of a perfectly conducting spherical mirror which is a dispersionless system, that is, it introduces no group velocity dispersion and no propagation time difference to the pulses after reflection. By using the scalar diffraction theory we will show that the neglected terms in the diffraction integral, when using the approximation of the bandwidth being smaller than the frequency of the carrier, have a significant influence on imaging if a laser pulse of a few femtoseconds is used in time-resolved imaging. The neglected terms introduce temporal spreading to extremely short pulses of a few optical cycles incident on the mirror, which avoids a fully compensated pulse, i.e., a one optical cycle pulse, at the focus of the mirror. The study in this paper also applies to refracting optical systems such as microscope objectives or lenses.

We present an experimental method to characterize a liquid-crystal variable retarder (LCVR). In addition, experimental results using LCVR’s to measure the four Stokes parameters of a light beam simultaneously are presented. We use known waveplates (half-wave and quarter-wave) as devices to provide controlled polarization states to the Stokes polarimeter, and we use the measured Stokes parameters as functions of the orientation of the axes of the waveplates as an indication of the quality of the polarimeter. Also, we present results of simulations for comparison.

The problem of the formation of capacitance images of periodic rough surfaces with a pointer as one of the electrodes of the capacitor is investigated and the lateral resolution limits are found in terms of the radius of curvature of the Gaussian-shaped pointer. The lateral resolution limit is found to be appreciably less than the radius of curvature at the tip of the pointer. It is found that a simple `local-height' approximation to the capacitance gives good values for image contrast even though this method does not predict the absolute capacitance values accurately. It is also shown that the overall shape of the pointer does not influence the contrast of the capacitance images if the pointer is smooth and rounded. Results of a perturbative solution which includes a spectral window function are presented and compared with numerical results, and good agreement is obtained for cases when the surface is not too rough. Finally, results are presented for a flat-topped pointer and a hole pointer.

Numerical calculations are performed for the case of scattering of a short light pulse from a multiple scattering surface using the Kirchhoff approximation. It is shown that the double scattered pulse is shorter and arrives later than the single scattered pulse and that there is an increase in the width of the total scattered pulse over the width of the single scattered pulse due to the later arrival of the double scattered pulse.

We consider the electrical capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor with one rough electrode. The roughness is characterized by its amplitude and its wavenumber scale; the capacitance depends on both of these variables as well as the form of the roughness. We calculate the capacitance in the four limit cases of the two variables mentioned above. On the basis of these limit cases, we approximate the capacitance with elementary functions for the case of any surface roughness. We compare the capacitances calculated in this approach with precise numerical solutions for different forms of roughness.

Results of numerical simulations are presented for the problem of reflection of an incident plane wave from a randomly rough surface when the detector is at a finite distance. In particular, the effect of changes in the detector distance on the enhanced backscatter effect is investigated. It is found that the enhanced backscatter peak reduces in size and becomes wider as the detector distance is reduced in agreement with a simple expression for the phase difference between the rays multiply scattered from a valley on the surface.

Results are presented of an analysis of the Mueller matrix parameters for the problem of scattering of light from two-dimensional rough surfaces. The Mueller matrix fully describes the polarization properties of the scattered light. It is shown, using symmetry arguments, that for normal incidence it is necessary to measure the Mueller matrix terms in only one plane, thus reducing the amount of data to be analysed. Examples of the form of the Mueller matrix terms are calculated using a simple ray-trace approach.

Diffuse reflection of a narrow collimated light beam from a slab of a dense random medium is considered theoretically and experimentally for the case of the source and the detector fibres dipped into the random medium, as is the case for an endoscopic catheter. By use of the diffusion approximation, a simple and physically clear analytical expression is derived for the distribution of the diffuse reflectance of the light beam along the surface of the random medium slab. We include the effects of reflections from the top and bottom surfaces of the slab. The analytical expression derived predicts that, in the case of small absorption, the relative reflectance is a universal function defined by the geometrical parameters and is independent of specific properties of the random medium. The theoretical prediction is found to show good agreement with the results of measurements.

We present the analysis and implementation of a set of experimental procedures to characterize optical polarization properties as a function of the applied voltage for liquid-crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) in the transmission mode. The studied properties are those involved in the operation of the LCVRs and, generally, are the most significant for optical applications: retardance, diattenuation, optical axes position, and output depolarization effects. The correct characterization of these polarization properties can be useful to improve results or estimate errors in applications using these devices. The results obtained show good accuracy and good agreement with the expected results.

We describe the behavior of linearity in diffuse imaging by evaluating the differences between time-resolved images produced by photons arriving at the detector at different times. Two approaches are considered: Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results. The images of two complete opaque bars embedded in a transparent or in a turbid medium with a slab geometry are analyzed; the optical properties of the turbid medium sample are close to those of breast tissue. A simple linearity test was designed involving a direct comparison between the intensity profile produced by two bars scanned at the same time and the intensity profile obtained by adding two profiles of each bar scanned one at a time. It is shown that the linearity improves substantially when short time of flight photons are used in the imaging process, but even then the nonlinear behavior prevails. As the edge response function (ERF) has been used widely for testing the spatial resolution in imaging systems, the main implication of a time dependent linearity is the weakness of the linearity assumption when evaluating the spatial resolution through the ERF in diffuse imaging systems, and the need to evaluate the spatial resolution by other methods.