Spectral binning for mitigation of polarization mode dispersion artifacts in catheter-based optical frequency domain imaging.
Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) has been recognized as a significant barrier to sensitive and reproducible birefringence measurements with fiber-based, polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography systems. Here, we present a signal processing strategy that reconstructs the local retardation robustly in the presence of system PMD. The algorithm uses a spectral binning approach to limit the detrimental impact of system PMD and benefits from the final averaging of the PMD-corrected retardation vectors of the spectral bins. The algorithm was validated with numerical simulations and experimental measurements of a rubber phantom. When applied to the imaging of human cadaveric coronary arteries, the algorithm was found to yield a substantial improvement in the reconstructed birefringence maps.
Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, 40 Blossom Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. mvilliger@partners.org
Martin
M
Villiger
Ellen Ziyi
EZ
Zhang
Seemantini K
SK
Nadkarni
Wang-Yuhl
WY
Oh
Benjamin J
BJ
Vakoc
Brett E
BE
Bouma
D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*