Deconvolution method for recovering the photon time-of-flight distribution from time-resolved measurements

A nonparametric deconvolution algorithm for recovering the photon time-of-flight distribution (TOFD) from time-resolved (TR) measurements is described. The algorithm combines wavelet denoising and a two-stage deconvolution method based on generalized singular value decomposition and Tikhonov regularization. The efficacy of the algorithm was tested on simulated and experimental TR data and the results show that it can recover the photon TOFD with high fidelity. Combined with the microscopic Beer-Lambert law, the algorithm enables accurate quantification of absorption changes from arbitrary time-of-flight windows, thereby optimizing the depth sensitivity provided by TR measurements.