title: Transverse motion as a source of noise and reduced correlation of the Doppler phase shift in spectral domain OCT.
abstract: Recently, a new phase-resolved Doppler model was presented for spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT) showing that the linear relation between the axial velocity component of the obliquely moving sample and the phase difference of consecutive A-Scans does not hold true in the presence of a transverse velocity component which is neglected in the widely-used classic Doppler analysis. Besides taking note of the new non-proportional relationship of phase shift and oblique sample motion, it is essential to consider the correlation of the phase shift and its specific characteristic at certain Doppler angles for designing Doppler experiments with SD OCT. A correlation quotient is introduced to quantify the correlation of the backscattering signal in consecutive A-Scans as a function of the oblique sample motion. It was found that at certain velocities and Doppler angles no correlation of the phases of sequential A-Scans exists, even though the signal does not vanish. To indicate how the noise of the Doppler phase shift behaves for oblique movement, the standard deviation is determined as a function of the correlation quotient and the number of complex Doppler data averaged. The detailed theoretical model is validated by using a flow phantom model consisting of a 1% Intralipid flow through a 310 microm capillary. Finally, a short discussion of the presented results and the consequence for performing Doppler experiments is given.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sensoring and Monitoring, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, University of Technology Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.forename: Edmund
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D004301:Doppler Effect; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012212:Rheology / Q000379:methods*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*