NewsEtc

Dec., 1998
Steven Jacques
Oregon Medical Laser Center

A minimal Monte Carlo program for simulating steady-state light distributions in tissues.

Monte Carlo programming code is available from various sources, and there are many books on the subject. This article is intended to conveniently and quickly enable the student to begin using the Monte Carlo method to model photon transport. Further reading is recommended for the serious student.

A simple program called "mc321.c" is listed here for compilation by the student. It is written in ANSI Standard C and should compile on any platform. Students will need a C compiler on their own computer.

The following pages discuss the various sections of "mc321.c":

Students are encouraged to modify the program. Some example modifications are listed:

This minimal program as written does NOT consider an air/tissue surface or other mismatched boundaries. The program models an infinite unbounded medium with absorption and scattering properties.

The "mc321.c" program was used in writing the published report:

S. L. Jacques: "Light distributions from point, line, and plane sources for photochemical reactions and fluorescence in turbid biological tissues," Photochem. Photobiol. 67:23-32, 1998.


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© 1998, Steven L. Jacques & Scott A. Prahl