Full-Field Optical Coherence Tomography

Oct 28, 2021 Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an interferometric imaging technique that has become an established tool for deep-tissue imaging. Full-field (FF) OCT is one of its variants that can perform fast en face imaging with high isotropic resolution (<1 µm in 3D) by using a camera for detection and an incoherent light source for illumination. Such a system can be successfully used in applications ranging from imaging the enteric nervous system to that of imaging internal fingerprints. However, FF-OCT remains a relatively slow volumetric imaging technique since a sample has to be scanned axially to acquire 3D data. To this end, Fourier domain (FD) FF-OCT has been introduced that can acquire a single 3D volume in milliseconds by using a tunable laser source and an ultrafast camera. Egidijus Auksorius presents on recent work with his team to implement phase randomization in the image acquisition process with FD-FF-OCT, thereby reducing the coherent noise that limits imaging depth. Such optimized fast FD-FF-OCT enabled corneal and retinal imaging of the human eye in vivo with unprecedented clarity, detail and speed.

***This presentation premiered during the 2021 BioPhotonics Conference. For more information on Photonics Media conferences, visit events.photonics.com. 

About the presenter:
Egidijus Auksorius, Ph.D., received his doctorate in physics from Imperial College London for work on superresolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging. He then worked as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Institut Langevin in Paris on developing FF-OCT technology for various imaging applications that included visualizing neurons in the gut and in vivo imaging of internal fingerprints. Subsequently, as a senior researcher at the Polish Academy of Sciences, he developed Fourier-domain FF-OCT systems for human retina and cornea imaging in vivo. He is currently a principal investigator at the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology in Vilnius, Lithuania. His present research interests include combining principles of optical microscopy and OCT for in vivo biomedical imaging.