Coherence spectrotomography and white-light continuum

The light scattered back form a scattering medium is expected to carry the range information about the reflective boundaries and backscattering sites in the medium as well as the information about their spectral reflectance. We suggested a white-light interferometry technique and signal processing algorithm for the retrieval of this kind of integral information from scattered light called coherence spectrotomography. The coherence spectrotomography is a version of low-coherence interferometry that enables us to extract both range and spectral properties inside a medium simultaneously. The white-light continuum is a new type of a broad-band and bright light source that is suited for the coherence spectrotomography. We generated the array of the white-light continuum by directing a microlens array into ultrashort laser pulses into water through a microlens array. We present our experimental results related to the coherence properties of the white-light continuum and its applications to coherence spectrotomography of a colored layer of semitransparent medium.