Spatially offset optical coherence tomography: Leveraging multiple scattering for high-contrast imaging at depth in turbid media.

ABSTRACT: The penetration depth of optical coherence tomography (OCT) reaches well beyond conventional microscopy; however, signal reduction with depth leads to rapid degradation of the signal below the noise level. The pursuit of imaging at depth has been largely approached by extinguishing multiple scattering. However, in OCT, multiple scattering substantially contributes to image formation at depth. Here, we investigate the role of multiple scattering in OCT image contrast and postulate that, in OCT, multiple scattering can enhance image contrast at depth. We introduce an original geometry that completely decouples the incident and collection fields by introducing a spatial offset between them, leading to preferential collection of multiply scattered light. A wave optics-based theoretical framewo

SUBMITTER: Untracht GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10328402 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature