Recovery of optical parameters in diffusive media with gated-photon counting

A new and simple gated-photon counting system is described for the recovery of optical parameters in diffusive media. The system is based on a 60 ns width-sliding gate that enables reconstruction of the photon decay curve detected when a pulse is impinged on the diffusive media. The Patterson-Chance method allows the optical parameters of the medium under investigation to be accurately retrieved. Experimental results on a phantom model breast tissue demonstrate the feasibility of the technique. Good agreement with time-correlated single photon counting was achieved leading to less than 10% of miss-estimation on the optical parameters