Quantitative modeling of laser speckle imaging

We have analyzed the image formation and dynamic properties in laser speckle imaging (LSI) both experi-mentally and with Monte-Carlo simulation. We show for the case of a liquid inclusion that the spatial resolution and the signal itself are both signicantly aected by scattering from the turbid environment. Multiple scat-tering leads to blurring of the dynamic inhomogeneity as detected by LSI. The presence of a non- uctuating component of scattered light results in the signicant increase in the measured image contrast and complicates the estimation of the relaxation time. We present a rened processing scheme that allows a correct estimation of the relaxation time from LSI data. c 2006 Optical Society of America Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is an ecient and simple method for full-eld monitoring of dynamics in hetero-geneous media.1 It is widely used in biomedical imaging of blood ow1{5 since it provides access to physiologi-cal processes in vivo with excellent temporal and spatial resolution. In a more general context LSI can be considered