Coherent and polarization imaging: novel approaches in tissue diagnostics by laser light scattering

Different techniques for diagnostics and visualization of the inhomogeneous scattering media by means of the statistical analysis of spatial-temporal fluctuations of scattered light are considered: (1) polarization diagnostics and imaging based on the application of the polarization degree as visualization parameter; (2) imaging techniques on the basis of measurements of the contrast of multiply scattered speckles induced by partially coherent light scattering in the probed object; (3) modification of the speckle imaging technique based on the statistical analysis of time-integrated electronic images of the speckle patterns under coherent light illumination. Comparison of these methods with traditional approaches to the diagnostics and imaging of macroscopically inhomogeneous multiply scattering objects is made. Experimental results obtained with phantom scattering media and illustrating the potentialities of the discussed approaches are presented.