Phase-resolved functional optical coherence tomography: simultaneous imaging of the stokes vectors, structure, blood flow velocity, standard deviation and birefringence in biological samples
First Claim
1. An apparatus for phase-resolved functional optical coherence tomography of a sample characterized by optical birefringence comprising:
- an interferometer having a source arm, a reference arm, a sample arm and a detector arm;
a source of at least partially coherent polarized light coupled to the source arm, the partially coherent polarized light being characterized by a well defined polarization state;
a polarization modulator for providing modulated polarized light of selected linearly independent polarization states incident on the sample, wherein backscattered arbitrarily polarized modulated light is returned to the detector arm from the sample arm according to sample birefringence, the returned light from the reference arm and sample arm interfering in the detector arm to form polarization interference fringes;
a phase modulator coupled to the interferometer for modulating an optical path length difference in the reference and sample arms of the interferometer at a predetermined phase modulation frequency;
a scanner coupled to the interferometer for scanning the sample;
a sensor coupled to the interferometer for detecting backscattered radiation received by the interferometer from the scanner to detect interference fringes within the interferometer; and
a polarization demodulator to demodulate the polarization interference fringes; and
a data processor coupled to the sensor for processing signals from the sensor corresponding to the interference fringes established by the backscattered radiation in the interferometer and for controlling the scanner to generate tomographic images to generate a complete polarization state description of the backscattered light from the sample by preserving phase relationships between orthogonal components of the polarization interference fringes formed from backscattered light from the sample and from the reference arm, and wherein the data processor simultaneously generates the Stokes vectors, and generates tomographic structure, blood flow velocity, standard deviation, and birefringence images at each pixel in the image.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A phase-resolved functional optical coherence tomography system simultaneously obtains the Stokes vectors, structure, blood flow velocity, standard deviation, and birefringence images in human skin. The multifunctional images were obtained by processing the analytical interference fringe signals derived from the two perpendicular polarization detection channels. The blood flow velocity and standard deviation images were obtained by comparing the phase from the pairs of analytical signals in the neighboring A-lines in the same polarization state. The Stokes vectors were obtained by processing the analytical signals from two polarization diversity detection channels for the same reference polarization state. From the four Stokes vectors, the birefringence image, which is insensitive to the orientations of the optical axis in the sample, was obtained. Multifunctional images of a port wine stain birthmark in human skin are demonstrated.
228 Citations
32 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for phase-resolved functional optical coherence tomography of a sample characterized by optical birefringence comprising:
-
an interferometer having a source arm, a reference arm, a sample arm and a detector arm;
a source of at least partially coherent polarized light coupled to the source arm, the partially coherent polarized light being characterized by a well defined polarization state;
a polarization modulator for providing modulated polarized light of selected linearly independent polarization states incident on the sample, wherein backscattered arbitrarily polarized modulated light is returned to the detector arm from the sample arm according to sample birefringence, the returned light from the reference arm and sample arm interfering in the detector arm to form polarization interference fringes;
a phase modulator coupled to the interferometer for modulating an optical path length difference in the reference and sample arms of the interferometer at a predetermined phase modulation frequency;
a scanner coupled to the interferometer for scanning the sample;
a sensor coupled to the interferometer for detecting backscattered radiation received by the interferometer from the scanner to detect interference fringes within the interferometer; and
a polarization demodulator to demodulate the polarization interference fringes; and
a data processor coupled to the sensor for processing signals from the sensor corresponding to the interference fringes established by the backscattered radiation in the interferometer and for controlling the scanner to generate tomographic images to generate a complete polarization state description of the backscattered light from the sample by preserving phase relationships between orthogonal components of the polarization interference fringes formed from backscattered light from the sample and from the reference arm, and wherein the data processor simultaneously generates the Stokes vectors, and generates tomographic structure, blood flow velocity, standard deviation, and birefringence images at each pixel in the image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A method of performing phase-resolved F-OCT to simultaneous image the Stokes vectors, structural, Doppler frequency shift, standard deviation, and birefringence of a sample comprising:
-
scanning the sample;
performing PS-OCT while scanning each pixel location;
simultaneously performing ODT while scanning each pixel location;
determining the Stokes vectors at each pixel location; and
generating the tomographic structural, Doppler frequency shift, standard deviation, and birefringence images of the sample. - View Dependent Claims (17)
-
-
18. A method for performing phase-resolved functional optical coherence tomography of a sample characterized by optical birefringence comprising:
-
providing at least partially coherent polarized light in the source arm of an interferometer, the partially coherent polarized light being characterized by a well defined polarization state;
polarization modulating the light in a plurality of linearly independent polarization states;
phase modulating the light to generate a modulated optical path length difference in the reference and sample arms of the interferometer at a predetermined phase modulation frequency;
scanning the sample with the polarization and phase modulated light;
returning the polarization and phase modulated light to a detector arm in the interferometer from a reference arm in the interferometer, returning the polarization and phase modulated light to a detector arm in the interferometer from a sample arm in the interferometer, where arbitrarily polarized and phase shifted light is returned to the detector arm from the sample arm according to sample birefringence and Doppler reflections from flowing fluid in the sample;
interfering the returned light from the reference arm and sample arm in the detector arm to form polarization and phase interference fringes;
detecting the polarization and phase interference fringes from the backscattered radiation; and
processing the detected signals from the sensor corresponding to the interference fringes established by the backscattered radiation in the interferometer and to generate a complete polarization state description of the backscattered light from the sample by preserving phase relationships between orthogonal components of the polarization interference fringes formed from backscattered light from the sample and from the reference arm, and wherein the data processor simultaneously generates the Stokes vectors, and generates tomographic structure, blood flow velocity, standard deviation, and birefringence images at each pixel in the image. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
Specification