Reciprocity relation for the vector radiative transport equation and its application to diffuse optical tomography with polarized light

Abstract

We derive a reciprocity relation for the 3D vector radiative transport equation that describes propagation of polarized light in multiple-scattering media. We then show how this result, together with translational invariance of a plane-parallel sample, can be used to efficiently compute the sensitivity kernel of diffuse optical tomography by Monte Carlo simulations. Numerical examples of polarization-selective sensitivity kernels are given.