title: Correlation of static speckle with sample properties in optical coherence tomography.
abstract: We present theoretical calculations, based on a random phasor sum model, which show that the optical coherence tomography speckle contrast ratio is dependent on the local density of scattering particles in a sample, provided that the effective number of scatterers in the probed volume is less than about five. We confirm these theoretical predictions experimentally, using suspensions of microspheres in water. The observed contrast ratios vary in value from the Rayleigh limit of 0.52 to in excess of 2, suggesting that the contrast ratio could be useful in optical coherence tomography, particularly when imaging in ultrahigh-resolution regimes.
authors.affiliation: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia. hillm-tr@ee.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hillman
authors.forename: Steven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Adie
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Seemann
authors.forename: Julian J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Sampson
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D008027:Light; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*