Analysis of Laser Light Migration in Apple Tissue by Monte Carlo Simulation

The distribution of laser light in the tissue of Golden Delicious and Idared apples was measured with backscattering imaging and simulated with Monte Carlo (MC) method. The settings of the vision system (sensitivity and resolution) and the parameters of the laser modules (wavelength, power and beam diameter) were used in a time resolved MC model to optimize the computation. The 1 ns pulse containing 1.42 × 10 7 (at 670 nm) and 2.49 × 10 8 (at 785 nm) photons was selected for the simulation of backscattering on the fruit surface. The statistical effect of the scattering coefficient (µ s ), absorption coefficient (μ a ), and anisotropy factor ( g ) on photon flux and shape of the backscattering profile was evaluated within ±20 % range relative to expected mean values for apple tissue (µ a = 0.63 cm −1 , µ s = 30.0 cm −1 and g = 0.8). The multi-factor ANOVA test pointed out the highest importance (p<0.001) of the anisotropy factor compared to the scattering and absorption coefficients. Decreasing value of an...