title: Dual-beam-scan Doppler optical coherence angiography for birefringence-artifact-free vasculature imaging.
abstract: Dual-beam-scan Doppler optical coherence angiography (DB-OCA) enables high-speed, high-sensitivity blood flow imaging. However, birefringence of biological tissues is an obstacle to vasculature imaging. Here, the influence of polarization and birefringence on DB-OCA imaging was analyzed. A DB-OCA system without birefringence artifact has been developed by introducing a Faraday rotator. The performance was confirmed in vitro using chicken muscle and in vivo using the human eye. Birefringence artifacts due to birefringent tissues were suppressed. Micro-vasculatures in the lamina cribrosa and nerve fiber layer of human eyes were visualized in vivo. High-speed and high-sensitivity micro-vasculature imaging involving birefringent tissues is available with polarization multiplexing DB-OCA.
authors.affiliation: Computational Optics Group in the University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Makita
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jaillon
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamanari
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yasuno
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016477:Artifacts; D001718:Birefringence; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012161:Retinal Artery / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation*