Abstract

Simplified spherical harmonics methods are high-order approximations to the equation of radiative transfer and can be used for accurately modeling light transport in biological tissue with diffusive and non-diffusive properties at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. They significantly improve the diffusion solution in domains with high absorption and in tissue with small geometries, and are computationally less expensive than the discrete ordinates or spherical harmonics approximations.

© 2006 Optical Society of America