| Many naturally occurring and man-made media are such that their optical properties vary randomly in space and time. This dissertation contains theoretical and experimental studies related to the propagation of low-coherence optical fields in such inhomogeneous media. Several unique characteristics of the low-coherence optical fields offer new possibilities for measurement and diagnostic technologies. By adjusting the coherence properties of the radiation, we demonstrate that specific orders of scattering can be selected therefore providing (1) the capability to fully quantify multiple scattering processes and (2) the possibility to suppress certain scattering components. The main new results are verified experimentally in a quantitative manner as applied to a variety of inhomogeneous media: optically transparent and opaque, static and dynamic, viscous and visco-elastic. The practical use of these novel approaches as "on-line" or "in-vivo" measuring techniques are also presented. |
