Spatially resolved light propagation in tissue-like media

The work presented in this thesis is part of a larger project designed to monitor and diagnose Alzheimer's disease non-invasively in vivo using spatially resolved nearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common forms of senile dementia occurring in the elderly population, and at present has no cure. The first step in developing a monitoring instrument involves differentiating the optical properties of tissue. In this body of work, a protocol and algorithm for deriving the scattering and absorption coefficients for a spatially resolved reflectance apparatus was developed, characterized, and tested. In models with tissue-like properties, this protocol and algorithm works to derive the appropriate scattering and absorption information, which is the first step in developing a spatially resolved NIR detection device.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Zeskind, Julie E. (Julie Erin), 1981-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael S. Feld.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29726

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29726