Effective Mie scattering of a spherical fractal aggregate and its application in turbid media

An effective Mie-scattering model is developed to deal with the scattering property of a spherical fractal aggregate consisting of scattering particles. In this model the scattered field of a scattering particle is given by the classical Mie-scattering theory. On the basis of the Monte Carlo simulation method, we determine the physical parameters of a scattering aggregate, the scattering efficiency Q, and the anisotropy value g, as well as their dependence on the size and the effective mean-free-path length of a scattering aggregate. Accordingly, photon migration through a microscope objective focused into a turbid medium including scattering aggregates is simulated to understand the effect of complex tissue on image quality. © 2004 Optical Society of America.