Polarization studies for backscattering of RBC suspensions based on Mueller matrix decomposition

Tissue polarimetry has demonstrated its great potential in biomedical field presently. In this study, the polarization characteristics of red blood cell (RBC) suspensions in a back-detection geometry have been investigated with experimental measurements and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation based on Mueller matrix decomposition. It is revealed that the simulated dependence of degree of polarization (DOP) and diattenuation on the distance away from incident point is qualitatively consistent with experimental result. DOP and diattenuation decay with increasing radial distance except in the region adjacent to the incident point. Further analysis shows that the number of scattering events and the scattering angle simultaneously influence the trends of DOP and diattenuation curves in the central region. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America