Application of the modified spherical harmonics method to some problems in biomedical optics

It is demonstrated that a semi-analytical method, modified spherical harmonics (MSH), is a fast and rigorous solution for the radiative transport equation in an infinite medium containing an isotropic source. The optical properties of the medium can be determined using an inverse scheme based on fluence data (including phase if a modulated source is used) without the drawbacks inherent in the diffusion approximation. The MSH method can also be used to solve for the fluorescence fluence due to a point excitation source in an infinite medium.