Experimental data on the hemodynamics of dental pulp at different stages of caries treatment are given. Observations of speckle patterns in backscattered laser light are used as a measurement method to qualitatively characterize changes in blood flow rate through the dental pulp. The measurements were made by the author-designed experimental setup. Theoretical estimations showed that stationary reflected light from an in vivo tooth contains a negligibly small information body on changes in the pulpal blood flow due to the shadowing of the pulp by optically thick enamel and dentin. Therefore, the temporal variations in the speckle patterns are the only possible way that can provide monitoring of blood conditions in the pulp by using backscattered light. Various statistical characteristics of the random reflected light fields are studied as indicators of blood flow rate changes. There were selected five statistical parameters of backscattered speckle images that give self-consistent data on these changes. The parameters include four combinations of integrals of the Fourier transforms of the observed temporal variations as well as the speckle image contrast. The selected parameters are shown to qualitatively agree with general considerations on the effects of reduced or increased blood flow rates on the selected integral quantities.
We describe a new system for automated temperature control during laser hyperthermia. The system includes a PC with special software, in which a regulator is realized, infra red camera as a detector of temperature changes and laser with the 810 nm irradiation wavelength, which operates under PC control. The regulation was realized as a negative feedback adaptive control system, which tunes it self during the operating and do not need any prior information about the parameters of the irradiated tissue. The system was tested on different experimental models, the parameters of which varied in a wide range. The system showed a stable work with times of the transients about 60 seconds. The error of temperature stabilization was about ± 0.8 °C.
A calculation scheme and an algorithm to simultaneously diagnose several structural and biophysical parameters of skin
by reflected light are constructed in the paper. The procedure is based the fact that, after absorption and scattering, light
reflected by tissue contains information on its optically active chromophores and structure. The problem on isolating the
desired parameters is a spectroscopic one under multiple scattering conditions. The latter considerably complicates the
solution of the problem and requires the elaboration of an approach that is specific to the object studied. The procedure
presented in the paper is based on spectral tissue model properties proposed earlier and engineering methods for solving
the radiative transfer equation. The desired parameters are melanin and blood volume fractions, f and c, epidermis
thickness d, mean diameter D of capillaries, and blood oxygenation degree S. Spectral diffuse reflectance R(λ) of skin
over the range of 400 to 850 nm was calculated as a first stage. Then the sensitivity of R(λ) to the above parameters was
studied to optimize the algorithm by wavelengths and to propose an experimental scheme for diagnostics. It is shown
that blood volume fraction and f*d product can be rather surely determined by the reflected green -- red light. One can
find f and d separately as well as D by the blue reflectance. The last stage is the derivation of S at about 600 nm.
An analytical procedure to study linear thermal processes in multilayered biological tissues irradiated by a laser beam is proposed. The procedure is based on the simplified representation of the heat source function after the irradiation. The Green function of both temporal and radial coordinates of the thermal problem is analytically derived in the paper. It enables one to easy simulate spatial and temporal temperature distributions in tissue by a simple convolution. Pulsed or continuous-wave laser beams with any radial structures can be treated. The validity of the approximations assumed to get the Green function is verified by comparing the simulations with published data on both light and thermal fields in tissues. Rather a good agreement is shown. Specific attention is paid to the most critical approximation, namely to the separation of radial and depth coordinates in the thermal source function. The applicability of such an approach is discussed and quantitatively checked by evaluating the temporal dynamics of radial light and heat spot spreading. The procedure is used to study thermal processes in irradiated skin layers under wide variations of optical parameters of the problem. Sample results on the heating effects of a sensitizer used for photodynamic therapy are illustrated.
Scientific groups engaged within the frame of the observation networks AERONET and EARLINET perform this work. The methodology of coordinated multi-frequency lidar and radiometric investigation of atmospheric aerosols is being developed for using in network observations. The method to process data of a comprehensive experiment utilizes the approach1,2 designed to process CIMEL data. The retrieval of altitude profiles of aerosol parameters is based on solving a common equation set including lidar equations, equations for the whole atmospheric depth, and constraints on the smoothness of the solutions. The results of numerical experiments are given in the paper to estimate errors while retrieving aerosol parameters. The measurement procedure and algorithms for data processing were refined during the summer-autumn, 2002 at the stations of the Institute of Physics (Minsk, Belarus) and Institute of Geophysics (Belsk, Poland). The stations were equipped by devices CIMEL and three-frequency lidars (532, 694, and 1064 nm). The CIMELs operated according to the routine AERONET program during the measurements. To provide gathering the data on the whole areosol layer, a series of lidar observations was made at different elevation angles. A pro9cedure to successively approach to an optimal estimation of aerosol parameters is proposed in this work to enable data processing with real measurement errors. The results of retrieving vertical profiles of aerosol fraction concentrations are presented for different quality of measurement information.
We have elaborated and evaluated a new high-precision method of automated establishment of the position of an object. Unlike the method using laser theodolites, the desire object is defined not by a specular reflector, but a laser beam directed upwards (laser spotlight). In so doing, the photodetectores register the laser radiation scattered by the aerosol component of the atmosphere and propagating perpendicularly to the beam axis (side scattering). The intensities of the side scattering registered by the photodetectors have been estimated in terms of the current concepts as a function of the distance, laser radiation parameters, and the state of the atmosphere. The calculations have shown that despite the relatively small value of the side scattering intensity, it is possible to reliably register light signal from large distances with the use of sufficiently powerful lasers and high-sensitivity photodetectores. To evaluate the proposed method, we developed and tested under real conditions an operative model of a laser-optical system based on a small-size "dry" neodymium laser (peak power of 0.5 MW, pulse repetition rate up to 5 Hz). The model is able to automatically establish the position of an object at a distance of up to 0.5 km to an accuracy no worse than 20 cm in a locality blocked from direct observation.
An analytical approach is proposed to treat heat transfer through two-component biological tissues composing of bloodless base and blood vessels under irradiation by a pulse light beam of finite dimensions and arbitrary duration. The approach is based on the optical and thermal tissue model accounting for individual optical characteristics of the above components, heat exchange between them, and convection losses at the interface with any external medium. Under reasonable assumptions, the Green function of the equation set for bloodless tissue and blood is expressed as a product of the corresponding Green function for an infinitely wide beam by a simple radial function determined by the radial shape of the irradiating light. So for any temporal structure of the external radiation, temperature rise of the composite tissue is a single convolution-like integral from analytical functions. This enables us to study explicitly some limiting cases of the heating and cooling. The effects of critical parameters of the problem and asymptotic temperature regimes gain a physically vivid and transparent form. Sample examples of these effects are considered and discussed in the paper.
We have stated and analytically solved heat transfer equations for a multi-component biological tissue iluminated by a temporal delta-pulse at different heat exchange mechanisms between blood vessels and its surroundings of basic tissue and between the tissue as a whole and its ambient external medium. The contribution of each mechanism to temperature fields inside the tissue is studied in detail. Empirical constants of the mechanisms are estimated from rather strict and general viewpoints of thermal physics. Specific numerical values of the constants are given for air or water as the environment. The starting HTEs were substantially simplified by evaluating optical and thermal physical parameters of tissues to show that the tissue can be regarded as optically and thermally uniform with localized light absorption or additional heat sources in blood vessels. The thermal fuction of a human organism is approximated to include the boundary contact of a tissue with an ambient medium having a temperature other than that of the tissue. The applicability limits of the used 1D HTEs are discussed and substantiated for the estimations. Sample results illustrating temporal and spatial temperature distributions for convective and thermal conduction surface losses to the environment are given. It is shown, in particular, that the lower the volume content of blood vessels in tissue, the higher the temperature of the vessels and their tissue surroudings immediately after irradiation. The opposite situation occurs in a fraction of a millisecond after the irradiation, i.e. the tissue temperature increases with the volume content of the vessels.
A flexible algorithm to commonly process lidar and sun sky-scanning radiometer measurements is developed. The algorithm is oriented towards the engineering facilities of the radiometer CIMEL used by AERONET network and a two-to-four wavelength lidar used by European lidar network EARLINET. Numerical experiments were performed to assess algorithm sensitivity to measurement errors and possible violations of basic model assumptions.
We use the diffusion approximation to the radiative transfer equation and the respective analytical relations to theoretically treat the imaging of phantom biological tissue with an inclusion under external illumination. The horizontal inhomogeneity of the scattering and absorbing tissue medium owing to the includion is taken into account. Several measuring setups are computationally considered to investigate their advantages and drawbacks under the sounding of inclusions by reflected and transmitted light. We varied the absolute and respective values of the absorption coefficients of the inclusion and surrounding tissue to illustrate the imaging of 'clear' and 'dark' inclusions through the turbid medium. The comparison is made with the so-called base scheme when an arrow laser bam illuminates the medium and narrow-angle receiver records reflected radiation at some distance or base from the light source. A simple formula to calculate the image contrast of a small inclusion with the contrast observed. We illustrate the computations by experimental spectral absorption and extinction curves to enable one an opportunity to estimate some advantages while searching and changing the operational range of wavelengths utilized to sound a tumor inside normal tissue.
Some ways to reduce errors in measured concentrations of atmospheric trace gases by using the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) method are studied here. One requires the correction means owing to the following obvious fact. For a low concentration of an absorptive gas, the difference in signals at 'on'- and 'off'-wavelengths utilized to sound the atmosphere would be small too. So the account for different optical spectral properties of atmospheric aerosols even at closely spaced 'on'- and 'off'-wavelengths can be of great importance for such a case. This paper shows that essential changes in optical aerosol characteristics, for example, near 9 to 10 micrometers due to sulfate ions of atmospheric particles, can be a a reason, which practically precludes a concentration of a trace gas in the 'average' atmosphere from being determined to any acceptable error level. We consider here two experimental setups providing the DIAL measurements by path and sounding schemes, when reflection from a topographic target or aerosol backscatter delivers the signal to a receiver, respectively. Possible ways to correct differences in aerosol optical characteristics at 'on'- and 'off'-wavelengths are discussed. To this end, model estimations of the spectral characteristics are used. Various models are considered to compare the errors in concentrations with and without the corresponding corrections. It is shown that for a number of path measurements one would succeed in the reduction of the errors. An empirical formula to correct measurements is given.
A problem on introduction of additional a prior assumptions to construct a closed set of lidar equations at several wavelengths and on their solutions to estimate microphysical parameters of atmospheric aerosols by multi-frequency laser sounding data is discussed. Some regression relations between spectral values of aerosol backscatter and extinction coefficients in the visible and near-IR are used as the assumptions. The regressions are constructed by model considerations. The optical atmospheric aerosol model of the World Meterological Organization is taken as a basic one. The constructed regressions enable one to evaluate the solvability of, generally, ill-conditioned lidar equations and the errors in the solutions as well as to make some estimations with respect to the determination of aerosol microstructural parameters. This work has been directed towards the design of procedures and algorithms to process laser sounding data gathered routinely by lidar setups of the Institute of Physics, Belarus National Academy of Sciences, Minsk, Republic of Belarus within the frame of a number of International and National research and development programs.
Within the frame of the program on ecological monitoring of air masses, researchers of the Institute of Physics have performed a series of experiments on multi-frequency atmospheric laser sounding over the industrial region of Soligorsk City, Belarus. We obtained extinction, scattering, backscatter coefficients, and lidar ratio over the wavelength range of 0.38 to 1.06 mkm. There was observed a number of peculiarities in the said spectral dependencies differing from those for quite a pure atmosphere. Specifically, backscatter and lidar ratio spectra could have a maximum within the studied spectral range or increase monotonically towards the infrared edge of the spectral range. As for atmospheric sounding at sites rather distant from high-power polluting sources, one observes usually decreasing corresponding spectral dependencies with wavelength increasing. The same behavior is given by well- known optical models of atmospheric aerosols, e.g. by the WMO model.
We present here a review of scientific theoretical researches performed during last five years at our Institute. Specific modern radiative transfer approaches and techniques. This is just that is meant as 'nontraditional' features. All these features formed a basis for evaluating somewhat surprising, but easily physically treated properties of images provided by active vision systems operating through a turbid medium. Specific topics are: (i) effects of fine backscattering pattern of coarse aerosols, such as fog or cloud droplets, on optical interference and the computational consequences of these effects; (ii) image contrast and ultimate visibility range of targets with different reflective properties and; in particular, possible improving of the visibility range of targets with different reflective properties and; in particular, possible improving of the visibility of a target as it is sinking into a turbid medium; (iii) imaging of non-Lambertian objects and peculiarities in their images; (iv) applications to assessing visibility quality of a car driver under poor weather conditions and some ways to optimize the visibility and to enhance the ultimate visibility range. We succeed in treating all these topics by rather simple analytical expressions requiring no sophisticated software to be dealt with.
A problem on the illumination of a plane layer by a 'wide' light source and the recording of backscattered radiation by a 'narrow' - angle receiver is considered. An opaque obstacle can be inside the layer, i.e., optical properties of the medium are, in general, horizontal non-uniform. The light signal reflected from the medium with highly forward extended phase function (e.g., from a cloud) can be naturally partitioned to two components, the first arriving at the receiver from the medium in front of the target, the second - from the shadow region of the target. These components are calculated by the multicomponent approach to the radiative transfer equation, including the representation of the forward phase function as a sum of diffraction and geometrical optics terms. The computations are implemented for gamma size distribution of cloud drops. The first of the said components is analytically shown to depend weakly on microstructural parameters of the medium. The physical interpretation of such behavior of a signal, that can be regarded as a signal model for space lidar sounding, is given. The relation for the second component is also derived to show the regions of the medium providing higher sensitivity of the signal to the microstructural parameters as compared with the medium without target.
Analytical formulas are derived for integrals of phase function of large particles, namely for light fluxes scattered singly within an arbitrary angular range and mean scattering angle squared. The relations of the first kind are obtained via direct integration, by the scattering angle, of the Fresnel's reflectivities weighted with some angular function. The Fraunhofer's diffraction and geometrical optics parts are taken into account. As a result, the light flux is expressed as a sum of elementary functions. The formulas can be obviously converted to the known relations for the single-scattering albedo and mean cosine of the phase function for a particular case of the integration over full range from) to 180 degrees. The mean scattering angle squared is used, for example, by the small- angle diffusion approximation to compute light propagation. The corresponding formula is derived by comparing the solutions to the radiative transfer equation with the said approximation and with the small-angle one. The mean scattering angle squared is particularly shown to be inversely proportional to the effective size parameter squared of particles. The proportionality coefficient is found.
This paper considers an active vision system with spaced light source and receiver that simulates illumination and observation conditions typical for a car driver in fog. The objects of the investigations are image contrast and limiting visibility range for a characteristics non- Lambertian target, namely for a retroreflector. Calculations are made for a Gaussian angular dependence of its radiance factor centered near the direction opposite to the incident light direction. We concentrate our attention on studying effects of the angular retroreflectance scale on contrast and limiting visibility range of such a retroreflective marker. Here is shown the optimal retroreflective characteristics to exist that provide the maximal contrast and the best visibility of the marker under other equal conditions. The estimations of the angular scale are presented for various practical situations. The limiting visibility range values of retroreflective and Lambertian markers are compared.
A method is developed and investigations of the contrast and limiting visibility range of a retroreflective marker defining, for example, the overall-dimensions of a heavy truck are carried out for a case of illumination by anti-fog headlamps, upper or low beam of another vehicle through fog of various optical density with no other external lighting. The studies simulate night vision of non-Lambertian road markers from the viewpoint of the modern image transfer theory. The method enables one to include analytically the effects of multiple light scattering by fog aerosols, different mutual positions of the headlamps, vehicle driver, and object observed, as well as real retroreflective properties of the marker to derive vision characteristics via quite simple formulas. The visual contrast and limiting visibility range values of, respectively, retrorefractive and Lambertian markers are compared to demonstrate the advantages of applying the former for enhancing traffic safety and increasing allowable road speed. The recommendations are made with respect to the use of retroreflective markers as an auxiliary signaling means to show the overall dimensions.
The main purpose of this paper is to include analytically the angular backscattering dependence of phase function characteristic of rather large cloud droplets. We are doing so for two reasons, at least. First, the widely used approximation for the phase function, e.g. assuming it to be essentially constant near backscattering direction or using some its average value over the whole angular range of backscattering, can be shown to lead to overestimated or underestimated, respectively, light power recorded by a lidar. Second, the glory region bears the information on some microphysical parameters of clouds. So, the analytical description of backscattered light power would provide the simple prediction of lidar opportunities to measure, e.g., mean sizes or halfwidth of size distributions of cloud aerosols. To this purpose, the small-angle diffusion approximation of the radiative transfer theory (RTT) is used here to derive a lidar signal from intermediate optical thicknesses of clouds, where neither the asymptotic formulas of the RTT nor the single scattering approximation are working well. The analytical integration of radiative transfer with aerosol size distribution has enabled us to derive the explicit form of lidar signal power as a function of the microphysical parameters.
A special case of civilian active vision has been investigated here, namely, a vision system by car anti-fog headlamps. A method to estimate the light-engineering criteria for headlamp performances and simulate the operation of the system through a turbid medium, such as fog, is developed on the base of the analytical procedures of the radiative transfer theory. This method features in include the spaced light source and receiver of a driver's active vision system, the complicated azimuth-nonsymmetrical emissive pattern of the headlamps, and the fine angular dependence of the fog phase function near the backscattering direction. The final formulas are derived in an analytical form providing additional convenience and simplicity for the computations. The image contrast of a road object with arbitrary orientation, dimensions, and shape and its limiting visibility range are studied as a function of meteorological visibility range in fog as well as of various emissive pattern, mounting, and adjustment parameters of the headlamps. Optimization both light-engineering and geometrical characteristics of the headlamps is shown to be possible to enable the opportunity to enhance the visibility range and, hence, traffic safety.
This paper presents an approach to treat the imag- ing of objects with arbitrary reflection diagrams. We consider here the observation of retroreflective objects through a light scattering medium. Their images formed by an active vision system show a number of surprises. First, a retroreflector may be perceived as several different objects. Its image, under uniform illumination and invariable reflec- tive characteristics, can be highly-nonuniform in brightness, etc. Second, a retroreflector with very low albedo viewed against an ideally-white back- ground may be seen as a clearer object than the background. These features should be accounted for when analyzing the imaging of objects with reflection patterns differing greatly from that of Lambertian ones.
This paper considers some cases of increasing im- age contrast of an object with optical thickness of a turbid medium (e.g. atmosphere) through which one makes observations. The first one is related with viewing an isolated Lambertian ob- ject. The magnitude of image contrast is shown can increase under some conditions as the object is being submerged in the medium and can even have a maximum providing the best vision qual- ity. The second case examines observation of a non-Lambertian object against a background of a Lambertian surface. Increasing image contrast with a maximum is also possible here. This paper has given the mathematical description of the said effects that allows the imaging to be translated to rather simple analytical formulas.
This paper studies image contrast and limiting visibility range of a small target observed against the background of the bottom of a water reservoir under active or passive illumination. We use the small-angle approximation of the radiative transfer theory to simulate analytically multiple scattered radiation from the target tracked and that from a water medium with taking the shadowing of the medium portion by the target into account. The contrast magnitude is shown to behave 'unusually' under certain conditions and grow up with submerging the target into water having even a maximum at some depth. The physical explanation of this maximum is given and the conditions for such an 'unusual' behavior of the contrast are evaluated. On the other hand, the target with certain albedo could be invisible over all depths starting from the water surface and don tot he bottom. The case of equal albedos of the target and bottom is also considered. The target is observable here at its location depth being smaller than some threshold value. We provide an analytical estimate of this value to derive it via optical characteristics of water. In addition, the results of some case studies are presented here for different optical characteristics of water medium. The obtained data would be useful for experts in the development of optical vision systems for small targets and in the simulation of the same by advanced algorithms for sensor signal and data processing.
Vision characteristics are covered by the image transfer theory. But up to now, it dealt mainly with observation of Lambertian (i.e., diffuse-reflecting) objects on a Lambertian background. This model of reflection is quite a reasonable one for many natural and artificial objects to describe vision quality. This paper presents the mathematical description for vision criteria of another class of objects-retroreflectors to permit their angular patterns of reflection to be dealt with under unfavorable observation conditions through a light-scattering medium, such as fog. the small-angle diffusion approximation is used for the calculations of light characteristics under illumination by some source of an active vision system. by way of examples, there will be considered two questions: (1) visual perception of large-area objects where some parts of a retroreflector can be seen as dark and others as bright ones. This fact may be important when analyzing and exploring visual information being read out from a retroreflective panel. (2) The interesting effect of enhancing the contrast of a retroreflector image with increasing optical thickness of a scattering medium. This is related to increasing 'effective' albedo of an 'equivalent' Lambertian object the retroreflector can be replaced by. The results on vision characteristics of retroreflective objects are compared with those for the case of observation of Lambertian ones. The corresponding differences are discussed.
This paper gives a brief description of a method to calculate the light-engineering criteria of anti-fog headlight performance under different atmospheric aerosol environments featuring by coarse composition of particles. This method uses the modified small-angle diffusion approximation and aspect-invariance principle to treat the highly forward-extended phase functions of aerosols and rather an intricate angular pattern of the light source. Some exemplary results are presented to illustrate the limiting visibility range of road objects illuminated by anti-fog headlights under snow, dust, rain, and fog conditions.
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