Analysis of optical coherence tomography systems based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle

TLDR

The shower curtain effect, a known artifact in standard OCT, arises from the theory’s inherent properties. The authors aim to apply this new theoretical model to optimize OCT system performance. They base the model on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle, valid for single and multiple scattering, and validate it with measurements on aqueous microsphere suspensions. The analysis shows that the shower curtain effect strongly increases the heterodyne signal, a finding confirmed by experiments and contrasting with previous OCT models.

Abstract

We have developed a new theoretical description of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique for imaging in highly scattering tissue. The description is based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle, valid in both the single- and multiple-scattering regimes. The so-called shower curtain effect, which manifests itself in a standard OCT system, is an inherent property of the present theory. We demonstrate that the shower curtain effect leads to a strong increase in the heterodyne signal in a standard OCT system. This is in contrast to previous OCT models, where the shower curtain effect was not taken into account. The theoretical analysis is verified by measurements on samples consisting of aqueous suspensions of microspheres. Finally, we discuss the use of our new theoretical model for optimization of the OCT system.