Many polarisation techniques have been harnessed for decades in biological and clinical research, each based upon measurement of the vectorial properties of light or the vectorial transformations imposed on light by objects. Various advanced vector measurement/sensing techniques, physical interpretation methods, and approaches to analyse biomedically relevant information have been developed and harnessed. In this review, we focus mainly on summarising methodologies and applications related to tissue polarimetry, with an emphasis on the adoption of the Stokes–Mueller formalism. Several recent breakthroughs, development trends, and potential multimodal uses in conjunction with other techniques are also presented. The primary goal of the review is to give the reader a general overview in the use of vectorial information that can be obtained by polarisation optics for applications in biomedical and clinical research.

Structured light refers to the arbitrarily tailoring of optical fields in all their degrees of freedom (DoFs), from spatial to temporal. Although orbital angular momentum (OAM) is perhaps the most topical example, and celebrating 30 years since its connection to the spatial structure of light, control over other DoFs is slowly gaining traction, promising access to higher-dimensional forms of structured light. Nevertheless, harnessing these new DoFs in quantum and classical states remains challenging, with the toolkit still in its infancy. In this perspective, we discuss methods, challenges, and opportunities for the creation, detection, and control of multiple DoFs for higher-dimensional structured light. We present a roadmap for future development trends, from fundamental research to applications, concentrating on the potential for larger-capacity, higher-security information processing and communication, and beyond.

No abstract

Abstract:In this paper, we take the transmission 3 × 3 linear polarization Mueller matrix images of the unstained thin slices of human cervical and thyroid cancer tissues, and analyze their multispectral behavior using the Mueller matrix transformation (MMT) parameters. The experimental results show that for both cervical and thyroid cancerous tissues, the characteristic features of multispectral transmitted MMT parameters can be used to distinguish the normal and abnormal areas. Moreover, Monte Carlo simulations based on the sphere-cylinder birefringence model (SCBM) provide additional information of the relations between the characteristic spectral features of the MMT parameters and the microstructures of the tissues. Comparisons between the experimental and simulated data confirm that the contrast mechanism of the transmission MMT imaging for cancer detection is the breaking down of birefringent normal tissues for cervical cancer, or the formation of birefringent surrounding structures accompanying the inflammatory reaction for thyroid cancer. It is also testified that, the characteristic spectral features of polarization imaging techniques can provide more detailed microstructural information of tissues for diagnosis applications. properties and effect of wavelength choice on differentiation between ex vivo normal and cancerous gastric samples," J.

Polarization imaging has been recognized as a potentially powerful technique for probing the microstructural information and optical properties of complex biological specimens. Recently, we have reported a Mueller matrix microscope by adding the polarization state generator and analyzer (PSG and PSA) to a commercial transmission-light microscope, and applied it to differentiate human liver and cervical cancerous tissues with fibrosis. In this paper, we apply the Mueller matrix microscope for quantitative detection of human breast ductal carcinoma samples at different stages. The Mueller matrix polar decomposition and transformation parameters of the breast ductal tissues in different regions and at different stages are calculated and analyzed. For more quantitative comparisons, several widely-used image texture feature parameters are also calculated to characterize the difference in the polarimetric images. The experimental results indicate that the Mueller matrix microscope and the polarization parameters can facilitate the quantitative detection of breast ductal carcinoma tissues at different stages.

Graded index (GRIN) lenses are commonly used for compact imaging systems. It is not widely appreciated that the ion-exchange process that creates the rotationally symmetric GRIN lens index profile also causes a symmetric birefringence variation. This property is usually considered a nuisance, such that manufacturing processes are optimized to keep it to a minimum. Here, rather than avoiding this birefringence, we understand and harness it by using GRIN lenses in cascade with other optical components to enable extra functionality in commonplace GRIN lens systems. We show how birefringence in the GRIN cascades can generate vector vortex beams and foci, and how it can be used advantageously to improve axial resolution. Through using the birefringence for analysis, we show that the GRIN cascades form the basis of a new single-shot Müller matrix polarimeter with potential for endoscopic label-free cancer diagnostics. The versatility of these cascades opens up new technological directions.

Recently many attempts have been made for extracting the structural information of myofibrils as indicators for diseases of skeletal muscle. In this paper we adopt wide-field illumination and take the backscattering Mueller matrix images of bovine skeletal muscle tissues during the 24-hour experimental time after the animal's death. The 2D images of Mueller matrix elements and their frequency distribution histograms (FDHs) reveal rich qualitative information on the changes in the microstructures of the skeletal muscle. The temporal variations of the sample are quantitatively analyzed using two Mueller matrix transformation (MMT) parameters. The characteristic features of the temporal plots are attributed to the rigor mortis and proteolysis processes. For a deeper insight on the relationship between the features of the MMT parameters and the microstructures during the rigor mortis and proteolysis processes, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are carried out based on sphere-cylinder birefringence model (SCBM). The good agreement between the experimental and MC simulated results show that the FDHs and MMT parameters can describe more clearly the characteristic microstructural features of skeletal muscle tissues. The techniques are useful for the characterization of physiological status of tissues, or quantitative assessment of meat qualities in food industry.

Abstract. We present a new way to extract characteristic features of the Mueller matrix images based on their frequency distributions and the central moments. We take the backscattering Mueller matrices of tissues with distinctive microstructures, and then analyze the frequency distribution histograms (FDHs) of all the matrix elements. For anisotropic skeletal muscle and isotropic liver tissues, we find that the shapes of the FDHs and their central moment parameters, i.e., variance, skewness, and kurtosis, are not sensitive to the sample orientation. Comparisons among different tissues further indicate that the frequency distributions of Mueller matrix elements and their corresponding central moments can be used as indicators for the characteristic microstructural features of tissues. A preliminary application to human cervical cancerous tissues shows that the distribution curves and central moment parameters may have the potential to give quantitative criteria for cancerous tissues detections.