Panomsak Meemon

Comparative study of shear wave-based elastography techniques in optical coherence tomography

Abstract. We compare five optical coherence elastography techniques able to estimate the shear speed of waves generated by one and two sources of excitation. The first two techniques make use of one piezoelectric actuator in order to produce a continuous shear wave propagation or a tone-burst propagation (TBP) of 400 Hz over a gelatin tissue-mimicking phantom. The remaining techniques utilize a second actuator located on the opposite side of the region of interest in order to create three types of interference patterns: crawling waves, swept crawling waves, and standing waves, depending on the selection of the frequency difference between the two actuators. We evaluated accuracy, contrast to noise ratio, resolution, and acquisition time for each technique during experiments. Numerical simulations were also performed in order to support the experimental findings. Results suggest that in the presence of strong internal reflections, single source methods are more accurate and less variable when compared to the two-actuator methods. In particular, TBP reports the best performance with an accuracy error <4.1%. Finally, the TBP was tested in a fresh chicken tibialis anterior muscle with a localized thermally ablated lesion in order to evaluate its performance in biological tissue.

Spectral fusing Gabor domain optical coherence microscopy.

Gabor domain optical coherence microscopy (GD-OCM) is one of many variations of optical coherence tomography (OCT) techniques that aims for invariant high resolution across a 3D field of view by utilizing the ability to dynamically refocus the imaging optics in the sample arm. GD-OCM acquires multiple cross-sectional images at different focus positions of the objective lens, and then fuses them to obtain an invariant high-resolution 3D image of the sample, which comes with the intrinsic drawback of a longer processing time as compared to conventional Fourier domain OCT. Here, we report on an alternative Gabor fusing algorithm, the spectral-fusion technique, which directly processes each acquired spectrum and combines them prior to the Fourier transformation to obtain a depth profile. The implementation of the spectral-fusion algorithm is presented and its performance is compared to that of the prior GD-OCM spatial-fusion approach. The spectral-fusion approach shows twice the speed of the spatial-fusion approach for a spectrum size of less than 2000 point sampling, which is a commonly used spectrum size in OCT imaging, including GD-OCM.

Simplified methods of design, implementation, and characterization of a spectrometer-based FD-OCT

In this work, we report simple optical design of a high speed and high spectral resolution spectrometer based on the first order calculation. The spectrometer was design and optimized for high speed detection of spectral interference signal to be used as a detection unit of our developed Frequency Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (FD-OCT). We then detailed the hardware implementation of both the spectrometer and the FD-OCT system in our laboratory at Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand, by utilizing only off-the-shelf optical components. The spectrometer is capable of capturing of the spectral interference fringes at up to the camera limit of 130,000 spectra per second, enabling cross-sectional microscopic imaging of biological sample of more than 100 frames per second (for a 1000 depth scans per frame). In addition, we reported several simple yet robust techniques for characterization of the system performance in the context of FD-OCT 3D imaging, such as an effective lateral resolution, depth scale calibration, and depth penetration limit. The development of this high speed and high resolution spectrometer is part of our ultimate goal to develop a prototype of a research-grade FD-OCT system that provides better imaging speed and resolution in comparing to available commercial OCT systems at relatively lower cost. The design of low-cost, high performance FD-OCT system would make the technology widely accessible to other researchers in the field of biomedical research and related areas in Thailand in the next few years.

Fourier transform profilometry by using digital dc subtraction

A new method for eliminating unwanted background of Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) by using simple dc bias and background eliminations from the deformed grating images is proposed. The proposed method has an advantage over a conventional FTP in that the 3-D object profile can be accurately measured although original fundamental spectra are corrupted by a zeroth-order spectrum. Experimental verifications of the proposed method are presented.

Activity status and future plans for the Optical Laboratory of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand

The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) has developed since June 2014 an optical laboratory that comprises all the activities and facilities related to the research and development of new instruments in the following areas: telescope design, high dynamic and high resolution imaging systems and spectrographs. The facilities include ZEMAX and Solidwork software for design and simulation activities as well as an optical room with all the equipment required to develop optical setup with cutting-edge performance. The current projects include: i) the development of a focal reducer for the 2.3 m Thai National Telescope (TNT), ii) the development of the Evanescent Wave Coronagraph dedicated to the high contrast observations of star close environment and iii) the development of low resolution spectrographs for the Thai National Telescope and for the 0.7 m telescopes of NARIT regional observatories. In each project, our activities start from the instrument optical and mechanical design to the simulation of the performance, the development of the prototype and finally to the final system integration, alignment and tests. Most of the mechanical parts are manufactured by using the facilities of NARIT precision mechanical workshop that includes a 3-axis Computer Numerical Control (CNC) to machine the mechanical structures and a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) to verify the dimensions. In this paper, we give an overview of the optical laboratory activities and of the associated facilities. We also describe the objective of the current projects, present the specifications and the design of the instruments and establish the status of development and we present our future plans.

A technique for phase correction in Fourier transform spectroscopy

Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) is a type of spectroscopy that can be used to analyze components in the sample. The basic setup that is commonly used in this technique is “Michelson interferometer”. The interference signal obtained from interferometer can be Fourier transformed into the spectral pattern of the illuminating light source. To experimentally study the concept of the Fourier transform spectroscopy, the project started by setup the Michelson interferometer in the laboratory. The implemented system used a broadband light source in near infrared region (0.81-0.89 μm) and controlled the movable mirror by using computer controlled motorized translation stage. In the early study, there is no sample the interference path. Therefore, the theoretical spectral results after the Fourier transformation of the captured interferogram must be the spectral shape of the light source. One main challenge of the FTS is to retrieve the correct phase information of the inferferogram that relates with the correct spectral shape of the light source. One main source of the phase distortion in FTS that we observed from our system is the non-linear movement of the movable reference mirror of the Michelson interferometer. Therefore, to improve the result, we coupled a monochromatic light source to the implemented interferometer. We simultaneously measured the interferograms of the monochromatic and broadband light sources. The interferogram of the monochromatic light source was used to correct the phase of the interferogram of the broadband light source. The result shows significant improvement in the computed spectral shape.

A design of a high speed dual spectrometer by single line scan camera

A spectrometer that can capture two orthogonal polarization components of s light beam is demanded for polarization sensitive imaging system. Here, we describe the design and implementation of a high speed spectrometer for simultaneous capturing of two orthogonal polarization components, i.e. vertical and horizontal components, of light beam. The design consists of a polarization beam splitter, two polarization-maintain optical fibers, two collimators, a single line-scan camera, a focusing lens, and a reflection blaze grating. The alignment of two beam paths was designed to be symmetrically incident on the blaze side and reverse blaze side of reflection grating, respectively. The two diffracted beams were passed through the same focusing lens and focused on the single line-scan sensors of a CMOS camera. The two spectra of orthogonal polarization were imaged on 1000 pixels per spectrum. With the proposed setup, the amplitude and shape of the two detected spectra can be controlled by rotating the collimators. The technique for optical alignment of spectrometer will be presented and discussed. The two orthogonal polarization spectra can be simultaneously captured at a speed of 70,000 spectra per second. The high speed dual spectrometer can simultaneously detected two orthogonal polarizations, which is an important component for the development of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. The performance of the spectrometer have been measured and analyzed.

Particle tracking by using single coefficient of Wigner-Ville distribution

A new method for extracting information from particle holograms by using a single coefficient of Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) is proposed to obviate drawbacks of conventional numerical reconstructions. Our previous study found that analysis of the holograms by using the WVD gives output coefficients which are mainly confined along a diagonal direction intercepted at the origin of the WVD plane. The slope of this diagonal direction is inversely proportional to the particle position. One of these coefficients always has minimum amplitude, regardless of the particle position. By detecting position of the coefficient with minimum amplitude in the WVD plane, the particle position can be accurately measured. The proposed method is verified through computer simulations.

A comparative study of shear wave speed estimation techniques in optical coherence elastography applications

Optical Coherence Elastography (OCE) is a widely investigated noninvasive technique for estimating the mechanical properties of tissue. In particular, vibrational OCE methods aim to estimate the shear wave velocity generated by an external stimulus in order to calculate the elastic modulus of tissue. In this study, we compare the performance of five acquisition and processing techniques for estimating the shear wave speed in simulations and experiments using tissue-mimicking phantoms. Accuracy, contrast-to-noise ratio, and resolution are measured for all cases. The first two techniques make the use of one piezoelectric actuator for generating a continuous shear wave propagation (SWP) and a tone-burst propagation (TBP) of 400 Hz over the gelatin phantom. The other techniques make use of one additional actuator located on the opposite side of the region of interest in order to create an interference pattern. When both actuators have the same frequency, a standing wave (SW) pattern is generated. Otherwise, when there is a frequency difference df between both actuators, a crawling wave (CrW) pattern is generated and propagates with less speed than a shear wave, which makes it suitable for being detected by the 2D cross-sectional OCE imaging. If df is not small compared to the operational frequency, the CrW travels faster and a sampled version of it (SCrW) is acquired by the system. Preliminary results suggest that TBP (error < 4.1%) and SWP (error < 6%) techniques are more accurate when compared to mechanical measurement test results.

Properties of Wigner-Ville distribution’s coefficients in in-line particle hologram analysis

Properties of Wigner-Ville distribution’s coefficients obtained from in-line holograms are studied. It is found that the WVD coefficients corresponding to local fringe frequencies are mainly confined along a diagonal stripe intercepted at the origin of the WVD plane. The slope of this diagonal stripe is inversely proportional to the particle position. One of the coefficients always has minimum amplitude, regardless of the particle position.