title: Polarization memory effect in optical coherence tomography and dental imaging application.
abstract: We report the existence of polarization memory effect (PME) in optical coherence tomography and investigate its potential applications in dental imaging. We performed the study in three steps. First, microsphere scattering phantoms of different sizes were imaged in order to validate experimental results with PME theory. Both linearly and circularly polarized light were used to probe the samples. Second, healthy tooth samples were scanned and polarization memory effect was identified in dentin. In this step, specific verification and signal processing were performed to rule out possible image interpretation by birefringence effect. Third, we evaluated dentin demineralization with PME. Results show polarization memory can be useful to characterize this dynamic mineralization process for early caries detection and rehabilitation.
authors: Agiltron Incorporated, Woburn, Massachusetts 01801, USA. yueli.mit.chen@gmail.com
authors: Yueli
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Otis
authors: Quing
authors: Q
authors: Zhu
mesh_terms: D001718:Birefringence; D003732:Dental Caries Activity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D003804:Dentin / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008863:Microspheres; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014070:Tooth / Q000737:chemistry*; D017001:Tooth Demineralization