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Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory
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Mueller Matrix Optical Coherence Tomography

Mueller matrices provide a complete characterization of the optical polarization properties of biological tissue. A polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT) system has been built and used to investigate the optical polarization properties of biological tissues and other turbid media. The apparent degree of polarization (DOP) of backscattered light was measured with both liquid and solid scattering samples. The DOP maintains a value of unity within the detectable depth for the solid sample, whereas the DOP decreases with the optical depth for the liquid sample. Two-dimensional depth-resolved images of both the Stokes vectors of the backscattered light and the full Mueller matrices of biological tissue were measured with this system. These polarization measurements revealed tissue structures that are not perceptible with standard OCT.

Selected Publications

  1. Li, L.; Maslov, K.; Ku, G.; Wang, L. V.; "Three-dimensional combined photoacoustic and optical coherence microscopy for in vivo microcirculation studies," Optics Express 17(19) 16450-16455 (2009) [PDF]
  2. Li, L.; Wang, L. V.; "Optical coherence computed tomography," Applied Physics Letters 91(14) 141107-(1-3) (2007) [PDF]
  3. Ai, J.; Wang, L. V.; "Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography: removal of autocorrelation using an optical switch," Applied Physics Letters 88(11) 111115-(1-3) (2006) [PDF]
  4. Jiao, S. L.; Yu, W. R.; Stoica, G.; Wang, L. V.; "Optical-fiber-based Mueller optical coherence tomography," Optics Letters 28(14) 1206-1208 (2003) [PDF]
  5. Jiao, S. L.; Wang, L. V.; "Two-dimensional depth-resolved Mueller matrix of biological tissue measured with double-beam polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography," Optics Letters 27(2) 101-103 (2002) [PDF]
  6. Yao, G.; Wang, L. V.; "Two-dimensional depth-resolved Mueller matrix characterization of biological tissue by optical coherence tomography," Optics Letters 24(8) 537-539 (1999) [PDF]
  7. Yao, G.; Wang, L. V.; "Monte Carlo simulation of an optical coherence tomography signal in homogeneous turbid media," Physics in Medicine and Biology 44(9) 2307-2320 (1999) [PDF]