Patent ID: 8175690

Claim:
An optical device for assessing optical depth in an associated sample, the device comprising: a radiation source capable of emitting radiation with an initial polarization; a first radiation guide and a second radiation guide, the first radiation guide being optically connected to the radiation source for emitting radiation to the sample, the first radiation guide and the second radiation guide having their respective end portions substantially aligned with each other, the end portions further being arranged for capturing reflected radiation from the sample; a detector being optically connected to the first radiation guide and the second radiation guide, the detector being arranged for measuring, within an optical subband, an indication of: a first polarization of the reflected radiation, a second polarization of the reflected radiation, said second polarization being different from the first polarization, and a first intensity and a second intensity of the reflected radiation in the first radiation guide and the second radiation guide, respectively; and a processor operably connected to the detector, the processor being adapted to calculate a first spectral function and a second spectral function within the optical subband, the first spectral function and the second spectral function being substantially indicative of single scattering events in the sample, the first spectral function being a measure of the a difference in polarization between the first polarization of the reflected radiation and the second polarization of the reflected radiation, and the second spectral function being a measure of the a difference in intensity between the first intensity and the second intensity of the reflected radiation, wherein the processor is further arranged to calculate a measure of a correlation between the first spectral function and the second spectral function so as to assess whether the single scattering events originate from substantially the same optical depth within the sample.