Abstract

Imaging through biological tissue is a challenging problem of current scientific research. Recently, a technique combining short pulse or short coherence length illumination and electronic holographic gating was developed, and encouraging results were achieved with biological tissue imaging by using this method. To demonstrate its applicability to living tissue imaging, in particular, breast tissue imaging, further studies are being carried out. A model is established for the scattering properties of biological tissue. Based on this model, the point spread function is calculated for gating methods. The theoretical analysis shows that this method can be used for breast imaging with satisfactory resolution. To apply holographic gating to living tissue imaging, the characterization of both the stability and the time resolved properties of living tissue is necessary. Finally, the signal to noise ratio is evaluated for this imaging system, by using an object such as 1 cm thick biological tissue.

© 1992 Optical Society of America