Radiation transfer in human skin can be represented by the radiation transfer equation (RTE), assuming that human skin is a continuous medium in which the scattering and absorption of light occur. The RTE includes three radiative properties: the extinction coefficients, albedo, and scattering phase function. Among these radiative properties, so far, the scattering phase function has seldom been measured. In this study, we propose an estimation method for the scattering phase function based on the intensity profile of the light scattered by human skin. A system with a paraboloidal mirror and CCD camera was developed to measure the intensity distribution of the light scattered by human skin over a short time, and the scattering phase function of human skin grown
in vitro was estimated.
View full abstract