Extraction of the absorption coefficient of cylindrical tissue from a single wavelength based on the full scattering profile

Sensing physiological parameters by optical methods is very common because they are simple to use, they do not hurt the patient and they provide a real-time measurement. These parameters, such as oxygen saturation, are based on detection of light absorption through the tissue. The existing method uses multiple wavelengths to extract the absorption coefficient. However, the optical pathlength depends on the wavelength. Hence, the use of different light sources, which propagate through the tissue in different pathlengths, adds an inherent error to the calculation of the absorption coefficient. We suggest a new optical method for extracting the absorption coefficient of cylindrical tissues by a single wavelength. The method uses one wavelength only and therefore does not suffer from inherent errors. Our calculation is based on the iso-pathlength (IPL) point that we previously found. This phenomenon was discovered using a new characterization of cylindrical tissues, the full scattering profile, which is the light intensity distribution on the surface. In the IPL point, the light intensity remains constant for different scattering coefficients. We will use the light intensity measurement in this point in order to quantitatively extract the absorption coefficient.