Theoretical and experimental study of the intensity distribution in biological tissues

Based on the diffusion approximate theory (DA), a theoretical model about the distribution of the intensity of a narrow collimation beam illuminating on a semi-infinite biological tissue is developed. In order to verify the correctness of the model, a novel method of measuring the distributions of the intensity of light in Intralipid-10% suspension at 650 nm is presented and measurements of the distributions of the distance-dependent intensity of scattering light in different directions are made. The investigations show that the results from our diffusion model are in good agreement with the experimental results beyond and in the areas around the light source, and the distance-dependent intensity in the incident direction attenuates approximately in the exponential form. Furthermore, our theoretic results indicate the anisotropic characteristics of the intensity in different directions of scattering light inside the biological tissue.