Patent ID: 8199323

Claim:
A method of characterizing a scattering medium comprising the following steps: generating at least one incident electromagnetic beam; focusing said incident electromagnetic beam on a surface of said scattering medium; collecting at least one scattered electromagnetic beam corresponding to said at least one electromagnetic beam scattered by said scattering medium; generating a first image representative of said at least one scattered electromagnetic beam; processing said image; characterizing said scattering medium based on said process, wherein said first image is representative of an un-polarized signal associated with said at least one scattered electromagnetic beam exclusive of said incident electromagnetic beam; said processing comprises: determining data representative of an angular variation of said first image, said angular variation being associated with anisotropy of said scattering medium; generating a second image representative of a non-isotropic part of said first image, said second image being calculated using said first image and said data representative of said angular variation; and said characterization comprises characterizing the anisotropy of said scattering medium with the help of said second image.