We consider an inverse problem of determining unknown coefficients for a one-dimensional analogue of radiative transport equation. We show that some combination of the unknown coefficients can be uniquely determined by giving pulse-like inputs at the boundary and observing the corresponding outputs. Our result can be applied for determination of absorption and scattering properties of an optically turbid medium if the radiative transport equation is appropriate for describing the propagation of light in the medium.

This paper provides mathematical analysis of optical tomography in a situation when the examined object, for example the human brain, is strongly scattering with non-scattering inclusions. Light propagation in biological tissue is often modelled by the diffusion approximation of the radiative transfer equation. To be justified, the diffusion approximation demands that the medium is strongly scattering. Naturally, this is not true for non-scattering inclusions, for which some other model is needed. This is found through geometrical optics. Combination of the two models leads to an elliptic partial differential equation with boundary conditions on the outer boundary as well as on the boundaries of the non-scattering regions. The well-posedness of this forward problem is the main concern of this work.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 35Q60; 35R30