Photon random walk model of low-coherence enhanced backscattering (LEBS) from anisotropic disordered media: a Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Constructive interference among coherent waves traveling time-reversed paths in a random medium gives rise to the enhancement of light scattering observed in directions close to backscattering. This phenomenon is known as enhanced backscattering (EBS). According to diffusion theory, the angular width of an EBS cone is proportional to the ratio of the wavelength of light $λ$ to the transport mean free path length ls* of a random medium. In biological media, large ls* ~ 0.5-2 mm >> $λ$ results in an extremely small (~0.001 $^\degree$) angular width of the EBS cone making the experimental observation of such narrow peaks difficult. Recently, the feasibility of observing EBS under low spatial coherence illumination (spatial coherence length Lsc<<ls*) was demonstrated. Low spatial coherence behaves as a spatial filter rejecting longer path-lengths and, thus, resulting in more than 100 times increase in the angular width of low coherence EBS (LEBS) cones. However, conventional diffusion approximation-based model of EBS has not been able to explain such dramatic increase in LEBS width. Here we present a photon random walk model of LEBS using Monte Carlo simulation to elucidate the mechanism accounting for the unprecedented broadening of LEBS peaks. Typically, the exit angles of the scattered photons are not considered in modeling EBS in diffusion regime. We show that small exit angles are highly sensitive to low order scattering, which is crucial for accurate modeling of LEBS. Our results show that the predictions of the model are in excellent agreement with experimental data.