Fast method for inverse determination of optical parameters from two measured signals

Solving inverse problems requires multiple forward calculations of measured signals. We present a fast method combining graphic processing unit-accelerated Monte Carlo simulations of individual photons and a new perturbation scheme for a 300-fold speedup in comparison to conventional CPU-based approaches. The method allows rapid calculations of the diffuse reflectance and transmittance signals from a turbid sample of absorption coefficient μ_a, scattering coefficient μ_s, and anisotropy factor g based on the principle of correlated sampling. To demonstrate its strong utility, we have applied the method for determining the optical parameters of diluted intralipid samples with satisfactory results.