Three-dimensional multi-contrast imaging of in vivo human skin by Jones matrix optical coherence tomography

Abstract

A custom made dermatological Jones matrix optical coherence tomography (JM-OCT) is presented. It uses a passive-polarization-delay component based swept-source JM-OCT configuration, but is specially designed for in vivo human skin measurement. The center wavelength of its probe beam is 1310 nm and the A-line rate is 49.6 kHz. The JM-OCT is capable of simultaneously providing birefringence (local retardation) tomography, degree-ofpolarization-uniformity tomography, complex-correlation-based optical coherence angiography, and conventional scattering OCT. To evaluate the performance of this JM-OCT, we measured in vivo human skin at several locations. Using the four kinds of OCT contrasts, the morphological characteristics and optical properties of different skin types were visualized.

Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography: A Review of Technology and Applications

“…Compared to cumulative retardation measurements, local measurements of birefringent properties provide a more intuitive approach to tissue architecture and composition. For instance, in collagenous tissue such as skin, local birefringence can be used for the depth-resolved assessment of the collagen content [77,78]. Different applications of birefringence imaging of collagen in healthy and diseased tissues will be discussed in Section 3.…”

Generation and optimization of superpixels as image processing kernels for Jones matrix optical coherence tomography

“…This JM-OCT multiplexed two incident polarization states using passive polarization delay, and two output polarizations were measured using a polarization diversity detector [9,10,12,18,23,24]. Thus, it measured a set of four OCT images by a single scan.…”

“…Polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) provides not only structural information but also the polarization properties of the sample [4,5]. Among the polarization properties, local birefringence (BR) is considered to provide collagen contrast [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU) is another polarization property [14][15][16][17].…”

“…OCT angiography (OCTA) is another extension of OCT, that provides vascular information through the time variation analysis of OCT signals [19][20][21][22]. Jones matrix-based PS-OCT, the so-called multifunctional Jones matrix OCT (JM-OCT), provides the following four types of OCT images: scattering intensity, BR/phase retardation, DOPU, and OCTA using a single scan [10,12,[23][24][25].…”

Multifunctional in vivo imaging for monitoring wound healing using swept‐source polarization‐sensitive optical coherence tomography

“…Images of structure, birefringence, collagen orientation change, and blood vessels are obtained and analyzed. Although a few of multifunctional PS‐OCT studies have been reported to examine birefringence and blood vessels in human skin and eyes , no reports have demonstrated assessments in tissue birefringence and microcirculatory response to wound in healing.…”