Abstract

We present a comprehensive study of multiple-scattering effects in wide-field optical coherence tomography (OCT) realized with spatially coherent illumination. Imaging a sample made of a cleaved mirror embedded in an aqueous suspension of microspheres revealed that, despite temporal coherence gating, multiple scattering can induce significant coherent optical cross talk. The latter is a serious limitation to the method, since it prevents shot-noise-limited detection and diffraction-limited imaging in scattering samples. We investigate the dependence of cross talk on important system design parameters, as well as on some relevant sample properties. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results for the wide range of parameters investigated was very good, in both the lateral and the axial dimensions. This further confirms the validity of the model developed in our companion paper [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 22, 1369–1379 (2005) ].

© 2005 Optical Society of America

Multiple scattering in optical coherence tomography. I. Investigation and modeling

Boris Karamata, Markus Laubscher, Marcel Leutenegger, Stéphane Bourquin, Theo Lasser, and Patrick Lambelet
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 22(7) 1369-1379 (2005)

Spatially incoherent illumination as a mechanism for cross-talk suppression in wide-field optical coherence tomography

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Modeling of full-field optical coherence tomography in scattering media

Ugo Tricoli and Rémi Carminati
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 36(11) C122-C129 (2019)