Measurement of optical constants for dense media by low-coherence dynamic light scattering

We perform the optical constants measurements for different absorption dense media by low-coherence dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. The estimated particle size is used to calculate the scattering coefficient of particles suspended in dense media. The path-length resolved intensity distributions of light backscattered from the absorbing dense media are investigated experimentally by virtue of path-length resolved performance in low-coherence DLS measurements. The absorption coefficient can be obtained by applying the measured path-length resolved intensity distributions to the modified Lambert-Beer law. As a result, we proposed a new low-coherence DLS technique in simultaneous measurement of the scattering and absorption coefficients of absorbing dense media.     

In-line reference-delayed digital holography using a low-coherence light source

We present a holographic imaging device with a low-coherence light source that uses the reflection of the objective lens as reference illumination. This results in a simple setup and allows applications to microscopy with only small modifications of the setup for aberration measurements. In addition, it opens the prospects to in vivo ophthalmic imaging. We present in vitro experiments using a resolution test target to quantify the system performance. We demonstrate that we can achieve diffraction-limited resolution and show the possibility of aberration correction. We also present preliminary results using a scattering sample.     

Phase-referenced Doppler optical coherence tomography in scattering media

We present a fiber-based, low-coherence interferometer that significantly reduces phase noise by incorporating a second, narrowband, continuous-wave light source as a phase reference. By incorporating this interferometer into a Doppler OCT system, we demonstrate significant velocity noise reduction in reflective and scattering samples using processing techniques amenable to real-time implementation. We also demonstrate 90% suppression of velocity noise in a flow phantom.     

2pi ambiguity-free optical distance measurement with subnanometer precision with a novel phase-crossing low-coherence interferometer

We report a highly accurate phase-based technique for measuring arbitrarily long optical distance with subnanometer precision. The method employs a Michelson interferometer with a pair of harmonically related light sources, one cw and the other low coherence. By slightly detuning (~2 nm) the center wavelength of the low-coherence source between scans of the target sample, we can use the phase relationship between the heterodyne signals of the cw and the low-coherence light to measure the separation between reflecting interfaces with subnanometer precision. As this technique is completely free of 2pi ambiguity, an issue that plagues most phase-based techniques, it can be used to measure arbitrarily long optical distances without loss of precision. We demonstrate one application of this technique, the high-precision determination of the differential refractive index.     

Dual-axes confocal microscopy with post-objective scanning and low-coherence heterodyne detection

We present a dual-axes confocal microscope that employs postobjective scanning and low-coherence heterodyne detection to collect vertical cross-sectional images from biological tissue with high axial resolution, reduced noise from scattered light, deep tissue penetration, and a large dynamic range. This architecture can be scaled down to millimeter dimensions with microelectromechanical systems technology for performance of in vivo optical biopsy.     

Optical phase-space distributions for low-coherence light

Using a novel heterodyne technique, we measure optical phase-space distributions in momentum and position for low-coherence light. Quantitative information is obtained simultaneously about the longitudinal and the transverse coherence properties as well as the wave-front curvature of the light field. This method can be used to monitor these optical parameters directly for signal fields scattered from samples of interest, for tomographic imaging.     

Origin of low-coherence enhanced backscattering

The origin of low-coherence enhanced backscattering (EBS) of light in random media when the spatial coherence length of illumination is much smaller than the transport mean free path has been poorly understood. We report that in weakly scattering discrete random media low-coherence EBS originates from time-reversed paths of double scattering. Low spatial coherence illumination dephases the time-reversed waves outside its finite coherence area, which isolates the minimal number of scattering events in EBS from higher-order scattering. Moreover, we show the first experimental evidence that the minimal number of scattering events in EBS is double scattering, which has been hypothesized since the first observation of EBS.     

应用低相干动态光散射法测量悬浮液中的颗粒粒径分布

利用低相干动态光散射法测量不同浓度悬浮液中的颗粒粒径分布。由低相干光源和迈克尔逊干涉仪,结合传统的动态光散射技术组成低相干动态光散射装置,通过检测单次背散射光的能谱分布,利用CONTIN算法得到不同浓度悬浮液中颗粒的粒径分布。结果表明,对于1%～10%体积浓度范围内的单分散悬浮液羊品测量得到的颗粒粒径精确度在4%以内。     

Measurement of angular distributions by use of low-coherence interferometry for light-scattering spectroscopy

We present a novel interferometer for measuring angular distributions of backscattered light. The new system exploits a low-coherence source in a modified Michelson interferometer to provide depth resolution, as in optical coherence tomography, but includes an imaging system that permits the angle of the reference field to be varied in the detector plane by simple translation of an optical element. We employ this system to examine the angular distribution of light scattered by polystyrene microspheres. The measured data indicate that size information can be recovered from angular-scattering distributions and that the coherence length of the source influences the applicability of Mie theory.     

Instantaneous quadrature low-coherence interferometry with 3 x 3 fiber-optic couplers

We describe fiber-based quadrature low-coherence interferometers that exploit the inherent phase shifts of 3 x 3 and higher-order fiber-optic couplers. We present a framework based on conservation of energy to account for the interferometric shifts in 3 x 3 interferometers, and we demonstrate that the resulting interferometers provide the entire complex interferometric signal instantaneously in homodyne and heterodyne systems. In heterodyne detection we demonstrate the capability for extraction of the magnitude and sign of Doppler shifts from the complex data. In homodyne detection we show the detection of subwavelength sample motion. N x N (N > 2) low-coherence interferometer topologies will be useful in Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical coherence microscopy, Fourier-domain OCT, optical frequency domain reflectometry, and phase-referenced interferometry.     

Resolution improvement in optical coherence tomography by optimal synthesis of light-emitting diodes

We present a new approach to improving the longitudinal resolution of optical coherence tomography by optimal synthesis of several LED's. The search for an optimal synthesis of several low-coherence sources involves solution of an inverse problem, and an optimization algorithm is introduced that is used to arrange the parameters of light sources to effectively reduce the width of the center peak and inhibit the sidelobes simultaneously. Good coincidence between the experimental result and theoretical expectation is found.     

Two-dimensional birefringence imaging in biological tissue by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Using a low-coherence Michelson interferometer, we measure two-dimensional images of optical birefringence in bovine tendon as a function of depth. Polarization-sensitive detection of the signal formed by interference of backscattered light from the sample and a mirror in the reference arm give the optical phase delay between light that is propagating along the fast and slow axes of the birefringent tendon. Images showing the change in birefringence in response to laser irradiation are presented. The technique permits rapid noncontact investigation of tissue structural properties through two-dimensional imaging of birefringence.     

kJ级宽带低相干激光驱动装置

激光等离子体相互作用的不稳定性将有望通过降低高功率激光装置输出光束的相干性得到大幅缓解。利用低相干光源作为种子源,采用钕玻璃放大介质,研制成功国际首台kJ级大带宽低相干激光装置,实现了带宽13 nm、能量960 J、脉宽3～10 ns可调,相干时间仅为300 fs的大能量光脉冲输出。输出脉冲光谱匀滑无纵模结构,且谱相位随机分布,可实现脉冲波形和光谱分布的无关联精密调控。该装置不仅成功演示验证了低相干激光驱动器的单元技术及系统集成技术,同时也为激光等离子体相互作用及高能量密度物理研究提供了全新的实验研究平台。     

低相干光源干涉系统在大口径拼接子镜间相位误差检测上的应用

针对大口径望远镜拼接式主镜,提出一种基于迈克耳孙干涉原理的低相干光源干涉检测系统.应用该系统对拼接子镜间相位失调误差进行实时检测.进而对失调子镜进行相应校正,以实现拼接子镜的共面排布.给出了低相干光源干涉检测系统的具体结构,叙述了干涉检测系统的检测原理,提出应用双中心波长组合低相干光源进行拼接子镜间相位误差检测,分析了系统最低信噪比.结果表明,双中心波长组合低相干光源系统,可以提高低相干光源下涉中心条纹的信号分辨能力.借以提高检测精度.使得低相干光源干涉测量系统对拼接子镜间的相位失调误差进行高精度提取.     

Using dynamic low-coherence interferometry to image Brownian motion within highly scattering media

Dynamic low-coherence interferometry was used to measure Brownian motion of submicrometer particles within highly scattering media. Strong rejection of multiply scattered light was obtained by combination of a coherence gate with a confocal microscope, thus allowing particle characterization methods generally reserved for optically dilute materials to be applied to optically concentrated suspensions. The Brownian diffusion coefficient of highly scattering media was determined with an accuracy better than 5%. Furthermore, we show that spatial variations in the Brownian diffusion coefficient can be imaged with an axial resolution determined by the coherence length of the light source (~30 mum) . The experiments also show broadening of the power spectrum as a function of depth into the sample, most likely as a result of detecting multiply scattered light.     

Phase-referenced interferometer with subwavelength and subhertz sensitivity applied to the study of cell membrane dynamics

We report a highly sensitive means of measuring cellular dynamics with a novel interferometer that can measure motional phase changes. The system is based on a modified Michelson interferometer with a composite laser beam of 1550-nm low-coherence light and 775-nm CW light. The sample is prepared on a coverslip that is highly reflective at 775 nm. By referencing the heterodyne phase of the 1550-nm light reflected from the sample to that of the 775-nm light reflected from the coverslip, small motions in the sample are detected, and motional artifacts from vibrations in the interferometer are completely eliminated. We demonstrate that the system is sensitive to motions as small as 3.6 nm and velocities as small as 1 nm/s. Using the instrument, we study transient volume changes of a few (approximately three) cells in a monolayer immersed in weakly hypotonic and hypertonic solutions.     

Determination of the depth-resolved Stokes parameters of light backscattered from turbid media by use of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) was used to characterize completely the polarization state of light backscattered from turbid media. Using a low-coherence light source, one can determine the Stokes parameters of backscattered light as a function of optical path in turbid media. To demonstrate the application of this technique we determined the birefringence and the optical axis in fibrous tissue (rodent muscle) and in vivo rodent skin. PS-OCT has potentially useful applications in biomedical optics by imaging simultaneously the structural properties of turbid biological materials and their effects on the polarization state of backscattered light. This method may also find applications in material science for investigation of polarization properties (e.g., birefringence) in opaque media such as ceramics and crystals.     

Extended continuous-wave supercontinuum generation in a low-water-loss holey fiber

We report on the development of a 2.5 microm core photonic crystal fiber with a substantially reduced water-peak loss around 1.38 microm, which allows extended Raman-soliton supercontinuum generation up to 1.55 microm with a cw ytterbium fiber laser pump source. The resulting broadband, high-spectral-power-density, low-coherence light source can be employed for advanced, submicrometer resolution optical coherence tomography.     

Depth-resolved low-coherence enhanced backscattering

The phenomenon of enhanced backscattering (also known as coherent backscattering), an object of substantial scientific interest, has awaited application to tissue optics for the past two decades. Here we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, depth-resolved spectroscopic elastic light scattering measurements in tissue by use of low-coherence enhanced backscattering (LEBS). We achieve the depth resolution by exploiting the nature of the LEBS peak that contains information about a wide range of tissue depths. We further demonstrate that depth-resolved LEBS spectroscopy has the potential to identify the origin of precancerous transformations in the colon at an early, previously undetectable stage.