Analysis and optimization of a diffuse photon optical tomography of turbid media

In a numerical study, we investigate a diffuse-photon computed tomography of a turbid medium. Using a perturbation approach, we relate through a matrix K a bulk heterogeneous distribution of the optical absorption coefficient mu(a) that characterizes the heterogeneity in an otherwise homogeneous turbid medium to the diffuse photon flux that emerges from its surface. By studying the condition number (N-C) of the matrix K as a function of illumination-detection schemes and choices of reconstruction grids, we explore strategies that optimize the fidelity and spatial resolution of the computed tomography.