Robert Ference

Detroit Medical Center · Division of Orthopedics

The index of refraction n of the many mammalian tissues is an important but somewhat neglected optical constant. Archival and oral papers have quoted the use of values of n for tissue generally ranging from 1.35 to 1.55. However, these values are frequently without experimental basis. They have arbitrarily used values near that of water, which is a...

The rapidly expanding field of research into tissue optics has introduced the need to make measurements of the refractive index of tissue. For example, theoretical calculations done on the transport of light in turbid material frequently must take account of boundaries and interfaces where the index changes. The use of traditional methods of measur...