The spherical harmonics method (PN method) is often used for solving the radiative transport equation in terms of analytical functions. A severe and unsolved problem in this context was the evaluation of the angle-resolved radiance near sources and boundaries, which is a serious limitation of this method in view of concrete applications, e.g., in biomedical optics for investigating the different types of optical microscopy, within NIR spectroscopy, such as for the determination of ingredients in foods or in pharma…

In the context of autonomous driving, the augmentation of existing data through simulations provides an elegant solution to the challenge of capturing the full range of adverse weather conditions in training datasets. However, existing physics-based augmentation models typically rely on single scattering approximations to predict light propagation under unfavorable conditions, such as fog. This can prevent the reproduction of important signal characteristics encountered in a real-world environment. Consequently, i…

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an established technique for measuring tissue oxygen saturation (StO 2 ), which is of high clinical value. For tissues that have layered structures, it is challenging but clinically relevant to obtain StO 2 of the different layers, e.g. brain and scalp. For this aim, we present a new method of data analysis for time-domain NIRS (TD-NIRS) and a new two-layered blood-lipid phantom. The new analysis method enables accurate determination of even large changes of the absorption coef…

In this work, we introduce a novel variance reduction approach utilising the integral formulation of the radiative transfer equation to calculate the radiance in a planar symmetric slab geometry. Due to its integral nature, our method offers a fundamental advantage over well-established variance reduction methods such as the local estimate technique. As opposed to the local estimate procedure, photons add to the overall radiance not only at specific points of interaction but also throughout each consecutive path e…

This second edition is completely revised and improved and contains eight new chapters and six new appendixes. In addition to the theoretical background on light propagation through diffusive media, this update also provides new didactical material, including:
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\n• A comprehensive statistical approach to the photon penetration depth in diffusive media
\n• An introduction to anomalous transport
\n• An anisotropic transport approach within the framework of diffusion theory
\n• An introduction t…