Transport-based image reconstruction in turbid media with small source-detector separations

We demonstrate a new method for imaging through several millimeters of a turbid sample with a resolution of approximately 100 mum by combining aspects of confocal reflectance microscopy and diffuse optical tomography. By laterally displacing the pinhole aperture of a confocal microscope we can achieve small source-detector separations and detect minimally scattered light. A reconstruction algorithm based on the first Born approximation to the radiative transport equation is then used to reconstruct an image of a 100-mum absorbing object located 2 mm beneath the surface. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America.