Optical reflection tomography along the geometrical thickness

Abstract

Very recently, we proposed and demonstrated a novel optical reflection tomography along the geometrical thickness, reflecting a real crosssectiona1 structure of an object. This technique is based on simultaneous measurement of refractive index n and thickness t of a sample using the combination of a low coherence interferorneter and confocal optics The interferorneter provides optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the dimension of the optical thickness ( n X t) along the optical axis, while the confocal optics gives us another type of reflection tomography, having the thickness dimension of nearly t/n along the optical axis. This tomography can be called confocal reflection tomography (CRT) and has not yet been demonstrated, to our knowledge. Simple image processing of OCT and CRT results in desired reflection tomographic image, showing twodimensional refractive index distribution along the geometrical thickness. In this paper, we present the validity of our proposed method using the concave glass plate as well as the application for in vivo measurement of biological tissue.

Combined multiplanar optical coherence tomography and confocal scanning ophthalmoscopy

“…First, the en face OCT image looks fragmented, and on its own, such an image cannot be interpreted. Second, variations in tissue inclination with respect to the coherence wave surface alter the sampling of structures within the depth of the retina, 27 producing novel slice orientations that are often challenging to interpret.…”

Correction of distortions in optical coherence tomography imaging of the eye

“…Typical errors in OCT imaging are due to the specific way in which the image is constructed, i.e. from points of equal OPD (Ohmi et al 2001). Such errors are accumulated over the depth in the tissue and lead to deviations of zero OPD points from the position of the focus in confocal microscopy (Zawadzki et al 2003).…”