Experimental studies of the factors affecting spatial resolution in continuous wave transillumination through scattering media

The paper investigates continuous wave techniques for imaging through scattering media. Particular attention is paid to the confocal optical detection method, and experimental results are presented that demonstrate the dependence of spatial resolution on the optical configuration over a wide range of scatterer concentrations. It is seen that as the scatterer concentration increases there is a transition region over which the spatial resolution rapidly degrades. The concentration at which this occurs can be varied by changing the detection optics. It is shown that changes in the optical configuration affect the sensitivity to different scattered components, and through this, the imaging response. This feature can be used to improve the spatial resolution even when there is no unscattered light present.