Polarization Sensitive Subcutaneous and Muscular Imaging Based on Common Path Optical Coherence Tomography Using Near Infrared Source

In this paper, we describe a polarization sensitive (PS) subcutaneous and muscular imaging system based on common path optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT) using a near infrared source. The axial and lateral resolutions of the PS-OCT system are 9 and 6 μm, respectively. The main goal of this work is to build a high-resolution and minimally invasive optical imager for examining various kinds of cutaneous substructures with intrinsic or form birefringence. The internal structural information is extracted by the real-time signal analysis (Fourier Transform) of the modulated spectral intensity depending on the beam and tissue birefringence. The preliminary results using fresh beef longissimus muscle and in vivo Rattus norvegicus (rat) show that it is possible to visualize the birefringence effect of the tissue collagen fibers in the samples in order to achieve superior image contrast and sensitivity for the detection of hidden dermal structures. Compared to conventional CP-OCT, the proposed PS-OCT system provides depth-resolved images, which reflect the tissue birefringence.