We have developed deformable and durable optical tissue phantoms with a simple and well-defined microstructure including a novel combination of scatterers and a matrix material. These were developed for speckle and elastography investigations in optical coherence tomography, but should prove useful in many other fields. We present in detail the fabrication process which involves embedding silica microspheres in a silicone matrix. We also characterize the resulting phantoms with scanning electron microscopy and optical measurements. To our knowledge, no such phantoms were proposed in the literature before. Our technique has a wide range of applicability and could also be adapted to fabricate phantoms with various optical and mechanical properties.

We present a method to make phantoms of coronary arteries for intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT). The phantoms provide a calibrated OCT response similar to the layered structure of arteries. The optical properties of each layer are achieved with specific concentrations of alumina and carbon black in a silicone matrix. This composition insures high durability and also approximates the elastic properties of arteries. The phantoms are fabricated in a tubular shape by the successive deposition and curing of liquid silicone mixtures on a lathe setup.

Low-coherence interferometry (LCI) is an optical technique that may be used for industrial surface metrology with accuracy in the micron range. An instrument made with optical fibers is rugged enough to be used in industrial environments and the fiber-linked optical probe may be miniaturized for accessing tight locations. Among industrial applications developed at IMI we will present several cases for which LCI has been particularly useful such as an elongational rheometer (RME), characterization of wear damages on coating and Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The RME is an instrument in which a polymer sample is stretched in a controlled temperature furnace at up to 350 o C. LCI has been used for monitoring the thickness of the samples. Wear damage is quantified by the volume loss after a wear test. It requires a high depth resolution (axis perpendicular to the surface) but a relatively coarse transverse resolution. The LIBS is a technique that has been used for analyzing the chemical composition of materials as a function of depth. LCI has been integrated to a LIBS instrument for measuring accurately the crater depth between each laser shot Introduction: Low-Coherence Interferometry (LCI) is an optical technique that relies on "coherence gating" to provide precise axial positioning of an object in the direction of light propagation. By focusing the light in a sample, one also obtains a good transverse resolution (perpendicular to the optical beam), thus collecting information from a finite volume for imaging or optical characterization purposes. This application has evolved at a fast pace in the last decade especially for the characterization of biological tissues under the field of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Significant achievements were reported both for the underlying technology (optical sources, scanning systems) and the diagnostic capabilities. Successful applications of OCT have been reported in various medical fields like ophthalmology, dermatology and cardiology.1 LCI is also full of promises for industrial applications, a field that is not yet fully exploited. One of the few examples found in the literature is the measurement of the level of molten glass with a temperature over the surface in the range of 800 o C. 2A LCI system can provide precision of the order of microns, both in the axial and transverse positions. A fiber-based system where the light is brought to the sample through a single mode fiber allows isolating the measurement location from the system main components at a distance of meters or even hundreds of meters. There is no direct contact between the sample and the fiber output, thus allowing measurements on samples at high temperature. A system can thus be easily adapted to industrial conditions even in a harsh environment and tight location. A small optical head can be brought close to the sample for illumination purpose while the sensitive electronics is kept away in a more suitable environment.In this paper, we review industrial applications of LCI re...

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