title: Fourier domain Pump-Probe Optical Coherence Tomography imaging of melanin.
abstract: We report the development of a two-color Fourier domain Pump-Probe Optical Coherence Tomography (PPOCT) system. Tissue phantom experiments to characterize the system performance demonstrated imaging depths in excess of 725 microm, nearly comparable to the base Optical Coherence Tomography system. PPOCT A-line rates were also demonstrated in excess of 1 kHz. The physical origin of the PPOCT signal was investigated with a series of experiments which revealed that the signal is a mixture of short and long lifetime component signals. The short lifetime component was attributed to transient absorption while the long lifetime component may be due to a mixture of transient absorption and thermal effects. Ex vivo images of porcine iris demonstrated the potential for imaging melanin in the eye, where cancer of the melanocytes is the most common form of eye cancer in adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 337 Zachry Engineering Center, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Desmond
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Ryan L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Applegate
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007498:Iris / Q000502:physiology; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000502:physiology; D008543:Melanins / Q000737:chemistry*; D034421:Sus scrofa; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins