title: Form-biattenuance in fibrous tissues measured with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT).
abstract: Form-biattenuance ( chi) in biological tissue arises from anisotropic light scattering by regularly oriented cylindrical fibers and results in a differential attenuation (diattenuation) of light amplitudes polarized parallel and perpendicular to the fiber axis (eigenpolarizations). Form-biattenuance is complimentary to form-birefringence (n) which results in a differential delay (phase retardation) between eigenpolarizations. We justify the terminology and motivate the theoretical basis for form-biattenuance in depth-resolved polarimetry. A technique to noninvasively and accurately quantify form-biattenuance which employs a polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) instrument in combination with an enhanced sensitivity algorithm is demonstrated on ex vivo rat tail tendon (mean chi = 5.3.10-4, N = 111), rat Achilles tendon ( chi = 1.3.10-4, N = 45), chicken drumstick tendon ( chi = 2.1.10-4, N = 57), and in vivo primate retinal nerve fiber layer ( chi = 0.18.10-4, N = 6). A physical model is formulated to calculate the contributions of chi and n to polarimetric transformations in anisotropic media.
authors.forename: Nate
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Haitham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zaatari
authors.forename: Jesung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: H Grady
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Rylander Iii
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Milner