Second-harmonic optical coherence tomography

Opt Lett. 2004 May 15;29(10):1090-2. doi: 10.1364/ol.29.001090.

Abstract

Second-harmonic optical coherence tomography, which uses coherence gating of second-order nonlinear optical responses of biological tissues for imaging, is described and demonstrated. Femtosecond laser pulses were used to excite second-harmonic waves from collagen harvested from rat tail tendon and a reference non-linear crystal. Second-harmonic interference fringe signals were detected and used for image construction. Because of the strong dependence of second-harmonic generation on molecular and tissue structures, this technique imparts contrast and resolution enhancement to conventional optical coherence tomography.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Birefringence
  • Collagen / ultrastructure*
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Rats
  • Tail / cytology*
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods*

Substances

  • Collagen