Polarized light imaging for superficial detection of sub-micron structure in tissues

The polarization (Q = co-polarized - cross-polarized) of reflectance from a tissue of incident linearly polarized light serves as a gate that isolates superficially scattered light, rejecting multiply scattered diffuse light. Pathology often arises in superficial tissue layers. But to interpret an observed change in Q in the field of view, one must decide: "Is the change due to an altered size of scatterers or to an altered concentration of scatterers?" This study uses the GPU-accelerated MCX version of Monte Carlo polarized light transport, based on light-scattering Mie spheres of varying size, to answer this question.