SignificanceEarly tooth demineralization may be detectable through spatial analysis of polarized light images as demonstrated in this study. This may also prove useful in the early detection of epithelial tumors that comprise the majority of the cancer burden worldwide. AimThe spatial properties of polarized light images have not been greatly exploited in biomedicine to improve sensitivity to superficial tissue regions; therefore, we investigate the optical sampling depth effects as a function of location in the backscattered polarimetric images. ApproachBackscattered linear polarization intensity distributions exhibit four-lobed patterns arising through single-scattering, multiple-scattering, and geometrical effects. These photon pathway dynamics are investigated through experimental imaging of microsphere suspensions along with corroborative computational polarization-sensitive Monte Carlo modeling. The studied sampling depth effects of linear and circular polarization images (explored in a previous study) are then evaluated on normal and demineralized human teeth, which are known to differ in their surface and sub-surface structures. ResultsBackscattered linear polarization images exhibit enhanced sensitivity to near-surface properties of media (for example, surface roughness and turbidity) at specific locations within the four-lobed patterns. This yields improved differentiation of two tooth types when spatially selecting image regions in the direction perpendicular to the incident linear polarization vector. Circular polarimetric imaging also yields improved differentiation through spatial selection of regions close to the site of illumination. Improved sensitivity to superficial tissues is achieved through a combination of these linear and circular polarimetric imaging approaches. ConclusionsHeightened sampling sensitivity to tissue microstructure in the surface/near-surface region of turbid tissue-like media and dental tissue is achieved through a judicious spatial selection of specific regions in the resultant co-linear and cross-circular backscattered polarimetric images.