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Technology developments and biomedical applications of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

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Abstract

Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) enables depth-resolved mapping of sample polarization information, such as phase-retardation and optical axis orientation, which is particularly useful when the nano-scale organization of tissue that are difficult to be observed in the intensity images of a regular optical coherence tomography (OCT). In this review, we survey two types of methods and systems of PS-OCT. The first type is PS-OCT with single input polarization state, which contain bulk optics or polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) based systems and single-mode fiber (SMF) based systems. The second type is PS-OCT with two different input polarization states, which contain SMF based systems and PMF based systems, through either time, frequency, or depth multiplexing. In addition, representative biomedical applications using PS-OCT, such as retinal imaging, skin cancer detection, and brain mapping, are demonstrated.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Zhenyang Ding, Chia-Pin Liang & Yu Chen

Authors
  1. Zhenyang Ding
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  2. Chia-Pin Liang
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  3. Yu Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Chen.

Additional information

Zhenyang Ding received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in optics engineering from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, in 2008, 2010 and 2013, respectively. He is currently a postdoctoral research associate in Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. His current research interests include polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) and representative biomedical applications. He has won Wang Daheng Optics Award for College Students, China, New academic Award by Ministry of Education, China, Excellent Doctorial Thesis Funding by Tianjin University, China, Graduate Student National Scholarship of China. Dr. Ding is a member of the Optical Society of America.

Chia-Pin Liang, who is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, was a post-graduate course student of the National Cancer Institute-University of Maryland (NCI-UMD) joint program. Dr. Liang was awarded Ph.D. (bioengineering) degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. His interest is in developing novel biomedical imaging tools for clinicaluse and basic research.

Yu Chen is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. Dr. Chen received the B.S. degree in physics from Peking University in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree in bioengineering from University of Pennsylvania in 2003. His research interests encompass the areas of biomedical photonics and imaging, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), multiphoton microscopy (MPM), needlebased endoscopy, and biomedical applications such as kidney imaging, brain mapping, and cancer detection. He has led numerous research projects funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF), USA. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Chen is a Fellow of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery.

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Ding, Z., Liang, CP. & Chen, Y. Technology developments and biomedical applications of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Front. Optoelectron. 8, 128–140 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-015-0475-1

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