Uncertainty principle-guided intra-volume motion correction in full-field swept-source OCT for phase-stable retinal...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Full-field swept-source optical coherence tomography (FF-SS-OCT) offers high-throughput volumetric imaging of the eye.
• Axial motion during wavelength sweeps introduces phase errors, limiting image quality and phase stability.
• High-frequency motion components (100-200 Hz) disproportionately impact FF-SS-OCT despite small amplitudes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a motion correction method for FF-SS-OCT to improve image quality and phase stability.
• To address the limitations imposed by intra-volume axial motion and associated phase errors.
• To enhance the feasibility of label-free optical imaging techniques like optoretinography and dynamic OCT.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a multi-scale, multi-reference motion correction technique.
• Estimated and compensated for intra-volume phase errors across multiple spectral and temporal scales using the Heisenberg-Gabor limit.
• Employed a multi-reference scheme to reduce speckle noise.

Main Results:

• Validated the method using phantom experiments and in vivo human retinal imaging.
• Demonstrated significant improvement in retinal image reconstruction and phase stability.
• Achieved phase sensitivity close to the signal-to-noise ratio limit in phantom experiments simulating retinal motion.
• Suppressed motion artifacts effectively.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multi-scale, multi-reference method effectively corrects motion-induced phase errors in FF-SS-OCT.
• This technique significantly enhances image quality and phase stability, crucial for advanced ophthalmic imaging.
• The method enables robust label-free imaging of neural activity and dynamic processes in the eye.