Abstract

Imaging through tissue using ballistic light is important for medical applications such as diagnosing and/or monitoring skin cancer and other dermatological conditions. Various techniques have been demonstrated including confocal imaging, time gating and coherence gating (e.g. OCT ) which may provide 3D images, pixel by pixel and so having long acquisition times. Our “whole-field” imaging technique, using photorefractive holography, is being developed for “in vivo” applications where rapid image acquisition is a priority. It is related to coherence gating techniques such as optical heterodyne detection, electronic and light-in-flight holography, but differs in that it is, to first order, insensitive to an incoherent diffuse light background.

© 1998 IEEE