Giles Blaney

My research focuses on measurement techniques that rely on understanding photons' behavior in an optically diffuse medium. An optically diffuse medium is one where light moves in random directions as it interacts with the structure of the matter within. For example, a cloud and a glass of water are made of the same substance, but one, the cloud, is diffuse, and the glass of water is transparent. The difference lies in the structure of the water, in droplets, or a homogenous liquid. Almost everything that is not transparent is optically diffuse, including biological tissue. Understanding how light acts in these diffuse media allows us to develop measurement techniques to probe what is within. Leveraging this, we develop non-invasive methods to sense within human tissue. These applications may include imaging of brain hemodynamics or identification of breast cancer.

My specific research involves the development of a measurement termed dual-slope, which can probe preferentially deep within an optically diffuse medium such as tissue. This technique allows many applications, such as non-invasive brain-specific measurements. Furthermore, dual-slope has other advantages which make it valuable for accurate and quantitative spectroscopic measurement of any substance, biological or not. Therefore, my continued research focuses on improving the implementations and applications of the dual-slope technique applied to an optically diffuse medium.