Inverse scattering for frequency-scanned full-field optical coherence tomography

Area of Science:

• Biomedical optics
• Optical imaging
• Computational imaging

Background:

• Full-field optical coherence tomography (OCT) captures en face planes simultaneously.
• Traditional OCT requires scanning focus through a volume for 3D reconstruction.
• High numerical aperture (NA) OCT systems are sensitive to defocus, limiting imaging flexibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a computational method for 3D volume reconstruction in full-field OCT with a fixed focus.
• To overcome the limitations of defocus in high-NA OCT systems.
• To enable high-resolution imaging without scanning the focal plane.

Main Methods:

• Solving the inverse scattering problem for full-field OCT.
• Developing and simulating a computational algorithm for 3D reconstruction.
• Analyzing the algorithm's performance with fixed focus, particularly for high-NA systems.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated computational reconstruction of 3D volumes from fixed-focus full-field OCT data.
• Showed that the proposed algorithm recovers object structure both inside and outside the depth of field.
• Validated the method's ability to maintain resolution away from the focal plane, even for high-NA systems.

Conclusions:

• A fixed focus is feasible for full-field OCT 3D reconstruction using computational inverse scattering.
• The developed algorithm significantly enhances imaging flexibility and overcomes defocus limitations in high-NA OCT.
• This approach promises improved resolution and efficiency in 3D optical coherence tomography.