Photon transport

Definition: Photon transport refers to the movement of a photon through tissue. In the case of fNIRS, it estimates photon movement as they pass from the source through the different tissues in the head model, with the goal of ending up with a sensitivity profile that can be used to create 3D voxel-based image reconstruction of the fNIRS data. For these applications, photon transport is often solved with Monte Carlo methods. The photon packet is launched, the step size is probabilistically selected, and as it passes through the medium, it loses weight due to absorption in the tissue, repeating these steps until a condition is met (detection, exit, …). Thus, scattering and absorption properties of the tissue is required to estimate photon transport.

Alternative definition:

Synonym: Photon migration

References:

https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-2607(95)01640-F

https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.7.1.015008

Related terms: Photon transport modeling