Optical Coherence Microscopy

We report a new method for improved optical sectioning in confocal microscopy. Optical coherence microscopy (OCM) uses low-coherence interferometry to improve image contrast in highly scattering media. OCM is an adaptation of optical coherence tomography (OCT), a new method for non-invasive cross-sectional imaging of tissue microstructure.1 The extension of this technique to confocal microscopy offers the potential for micron-resolution imaging without the need for biopsy in highly scattering media such as skin and endoscopically accessible tissues.

[1]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  Determination of the refractive index of highly scattering human tissue by optical coherence tomography. , 1995, Optics letters.

[2]  T Sawatari,et al.  Optical heterodyne scanning microscope. , 1973, Applied optics.

[3]  M Gu,et al.  University of Birmingham Influence of spherical aberration on axial imaging of confocal reflection microscopy , 2006 .

[4]  W. Rudolph,et al.  Analysis of heterodyne and confocal microscopy for illumination with broad-bandwidth light , 1996 .

[5]  W. Webb,et al.  Background rejection and signal-to-noise optimization in confocal and alternative fluorescence microscopes. , 1994, Applied optics.

[6]  C. Sheppard,et al.  Image formation in a fiber-optical confocal scanning microscope , 1991 .

[7]  X. Clivaz,et al.  Optical Low Coherence Reflectometry with 1.9 Mu-M Spatial-Resolution , 1992 .

[8]  M Kempe,et al.  Scanning microscopy through thick layers based on linear correlation. , 1994, Optics letters.

[9]  Carol J. Cogswell,et al.  Signal Strength and Noise in Confocal Microscopy: Factors Influencing Selection of an Optimum Detector Aperture , 1991 .

[10]  R. Lutomirski,et al.  Atmospheric Degradation Of Electro-Optical System Performance , 1978, Other Conferences.

[11]  Eric A. Swanson,et al.  Blindness limitations in optical coherence domain reflectometry , 1993 .

[12]  Stray light and noise in confocal microscopy , 1991 .

[13]  C. Sheppard,et al.  A compact confocal interference microscope based on a four-port single-mode fibre coupler , 1996 .

[14]  P. Davidovits,et al.  Scanning laser microscope for biological investigations. , 1971, Applied optics.

[15]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  In vivo retinal imaging by optical coherence tomography. , 1993, Optics letters.

[16]  J M Schmitt,et al.  Turbulent nature of refractive-index variations in biological tissue. , 1996, Optics letters.

[17]  Wolfgang Rudolph,et al.  Comparative study of confocal and heterodyne microscopy for imaging through scattering media , 1996 .

[18]  Colin J. R. Sheppard,et al.  A Confocal Interference Microscope , 1982 .

[19]  J. Schmitt,et al.  Confocal microscopy in turbid media. , 1994, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[20]  A. Gmitro,et al.  Confocal microscopy through a fiber-optic imaging bundle. , 1993, Optics letters.

[21]  C. M. Sonnenschein,et al.  Signal-to-Noise Relationships for Coaxial Systems that Heterodyne Backscatter from the Atmosphere. , 1971, Applied optics.

[22]  J G Fujimoto,et al.  High-resolution optical coherence tomographic imaging using a mode-locked Ti:Al(2)O(3) laser source. , 1995, Optics letters.

[23]  J M Schmitt,et al.  Efficient Monte Carlo simulation of confocal microscopy in biological tissue. , 1996, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[24]  M. Harris,et al.  Fiber-optic laser scanning confocal microscope suitable for fluorescence imaging. , 1994, Applied optics.

[25]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  Femtosecond transillumination optical coherence tomography. , 1993, Optics letters.

[26]  J M Schmitt,et al.  Multiple scattering in optical coherence microscopy. , 1995, Applied optics.

[27]  J M Schmitt,et al.  Subsurface imaging of living skin with optical coherence microscopy. , 1995, Dermatology.

[28]  T Wilson,et al.  Depth of field in the scanning microscope. , 1978, Optics letters.

[29]  C. Gu,et al.  Theory of photorefractive phase-conjugate ring oscillators , 1991 .

[30]  Colin J. R. Sheppard,et al.  Information capacity and resolution in an optical system , 1986 .

[31]  G. Kattawar,et al.  Exact spread function for a pulsed collimated beam in a medium with small-angle scattering. , 1994, Applied optics.

[32]  D. Davies,et al.  Optical coherence-domain reflectometry: a new optical evaluation technique. , 1987, Optics letters.

[33]  C. Sheppard,et al.  Experimental investigation of fibre-optical confocal scanning microscopy: Including a comparison with pinhole detection , 1993 .

[34]  P. Davidovits,et al.  Scanning Laser Microscope , 1969, Nature.

[35]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  Optical coherence microscopy in scattering media. , 1994, Optics letters.

[36]  J. Izatt,et al.  Optical coherence microscopy in gastrointestinal tissues , 1996, Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics.

[37]  Colin J. R. Sheppard,et al.  Fibre-optical confocal scanning interference microscopy , 1993 .

[38]  G. Kino,et al.  Confocal Scanning Optical Microscopy and Related Imaging Systems , 1996 .

[39]  Wolfgang Rudolph,et al.  Resolution limits of microscopy through scattering layers , 1994 .

[40]  R. Webb,et al.  In vivo confocal scanning laser microscopy of human skin: melanin provides strong contrast. , 1995, The Journal of investigative dermatology.

[41]  R Birngruber,et al.  Low-coherence optical tomography in turbid tissue: theoretical analysis. , 1995, Applied optics.

[42]  D. Jackson,et al.  Coherence imaging by use of a Newton rings sampling function. , 1996, Optics letters.