Erratum: Computational refocusing of Jones matrix polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography and investigation of defocus-induced polarization artifacts: publisher's note

[This corrects the article on p. 2975 in vol. 13.].

Computational refocusing of Jones matrix polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography and investigation of defocus-induced polarization artifacts

Here we demonstrate a long-depth-of-focus imaging method using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). This method involves a combination of Fresnel-diffraction-model-based phase sensitive computational refocusing and Jones-matrix based PS-OCT (JM-OCT). JM-OCT measures four complex OCT images corresponding to four polarization channels. These OCT images are computationally refocused as preserving the mutual phase consistency. This method is validated using a static phantom, postmortem zebrafish, and ex vivo porcine muscle samples. All the samples demonstrated successful computationally-refocused birefringence and degree-of-polarization-uniformity (DOPU) images. We found that defocusing induces polarization artifacts, i.e., incorrectly high birefringence values and low DOPU values, which are substantially mitigated by computational refocusing.

Non-destructive characterization of adult zebrafish models using Jones matrix optical coherence tomography

The zebrafish is a valuable vertebrate animal model in pre-clinical cancer research. A Jones matrix optical coherence tomography (JM-OCT) prototype operating at 1310 nm and an intensity-based spectral-domain OCT setup at 840 nm were utilized to investigate adult wildtype and a tumor-developing zebrafish model. Various anatomical features were characterized based on their inherent scattering and polarization signature. A motorized translation stage in combination with the JM-OCT prototype enabled large field-of-view imaging to investigate adult zebrafish in a non-destructive way. The diseased animals exhibited tumor-related abnormalities in the brain and near the eye region. The scatter intensity, the attenuation coefficients and local polarization parameters such as the birefringence and the degree of polarization uniformity were analyzed to quantify differences in tumor versus control regions. The proof-of-concept study in a limited number of animals revealed a significant decrease in birefringence in tumors found in the brain and near the eye compared to control regions. The presented work showed the potential of OCT and JM-OCT as non-destructive, high-resolution, and real-time imaging modalities for pre-clinical research based on zebrafish.

Computational multi-directional optical coherence tomography for visualizing the microstructural directionality of the tissue

We demonstrate computational multi-directional optical coherence tomography (OCT) to assess the directional property of tissue microstructure. This method is the combination of phase-sensitive volumetric OCT imaging and post-signal processing. The latter comprises of two steps. The first step is an intensity-directional analysis, which determines the dominant en face fiber orientations. The second step is the phase-directional imaging, which reveals the sub-resolution depth-orientation of the microstructure. The feasibility of the method was tested by assessing muscle and tendon samples. Stripe patterns with several sizes were visualized in the phase-directional images. In order to interpret these images, the muscle and tendon structures were numerically modeled, and the phase-directional images were generated from the numerical model. The similarity of the experimental and numerical results suggested that the stripe patterns correspond to the muscle fiber bundle and its crimping.

Bulk-phase-error correction for phase-sensitive signal processing of optical coherence tomography

We present a numerical phase stabilization method for phase-sensitive signal processing of optical coherence tomography (OCT). This method removes the bulk phase error caused by the axial bulk motion of the sample and the environmental perturbation during volumetric acquisition. In this method, the partial derivatives of the phase error are computed along both fast and slow scanning directions, so that the vectorial gradient field of the phase error is given. Then, the phase error is estimated from the vectorial gradient field by a newly developed line integration method; a smart integration path method. The performance of this method was evaluated by analyzing the spatial frequency spectra of en face OCT images, and it objectively shows the significant phase-error-correction ability of the method. The performance was also evaluated by observing computationally refocused en face images of ex vivo tissue samples, and it was found that the image quality was improved by the phase-error correction.