Zhenhe Ma

Three dimensional optical angiography.

With existing optical imaging techniques three-dimensional (3-D) mapping of microvascular perfusion within tissue beds is severely limited by the efficient scattering and absorption of light by tissue. To overcome these limitations we have developed a method of optical angiography (OAG) that can generate 3-D angiograms within millimeter tissue depths by analyzing the endogenous optical scattering signal from an illuminated sample. The technique effectively separates the moving and static scattering elements within tissue to achieve high resolution images of blood flow, mapped into the 3-D optically sectioned tissue beds, at speeds that allow for perfusion assessment in vivo. Its development has its origin in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. We used OAG to visualize the cerebral microcirculation, of adult living mice through the intact cranium, measurements which would be difficult, if not impossible, with other optical imaging techniques.

Tissue Doppler optical coherence elastography for real time strain rate and strain mapping of soft tissue

The authors present a tissue Doppler optical coherence elastography (tDOCE) method to image tissue movements, strain rates, and strains of soft tissue in real time. The method exploits the Doppler effect in optical coherence interferograms induced by tissue motion and measures the phase changes between successive A scans to resolve the instantaneous tissue displacement. The tDOCE system is capable of displaying the strain rates and strain maps of tissue subjected to a dynamic compression in real time. The system is demonstrated by the use of a heterogeneous tissue phantom with known mechanical properties.

Mapping transverse velocity of particles in capillary vessels by time-varying laser speckle through perturbation analyses

We propose a cross-correlation method to map the transverse velocities of particles moving in capillary vessels using full-field time-varying laser speckle technique. The mapping is achieved by a semi-random perturbation model that describes the intensity fluctuation of time-varying laser speckle signals. When passing through probing volume, moving particles encode a random perturbation into the observed laser speckle pattern. We calculate the transverse flow velocity by cross-correlating the temporal envelopes of the perturbation signals. The proposed method is experimentally verified by the use of polymer microsphere suspension in a glass capillary.

Control of guided hard tissue regeneration using phosphorylated gelatin and OCT imaging of calcification

Tendon and ligament are the transition tissues from a hard tissue to a soft tissue. The regenerative medicine of tendons needs reasonable biomaterials to regenerate precisely from the view point of composition and adhesion properties. In regenerative medicine of hard tissues, it has been reported that calcifications are influenced by phosphorylated proteins (phosphate groups) and the biomaterial possessing phosphate groups promote or inhibit the formation of HAP. We have studied to develop and evaluate the phosphorylated soft biomaterials, which is possible to control a calcification by the introduction ratio of phosphate groups, as biomaterials for tendon regeneration. In addition, we have studied measurement technologies. In the present study, we studied a FT-IR analysis of gelatins with different introduction ratio of phosphate groups, an evaluation of calcifications by the difference of introduction ratio of phosphate groups, and a fundamental survey on OCT imaging for calcifications of a gelatin and a phosphorylated gelatin. We use phosphorylated gelatins with different introduction ratios of phosphate group linked by ester bonds. The introduction ratios are measured by the FT-IR calibrated by a molybdenum blue method. Phosphorylated gelatin sheets were calcified using 1.5SBF soaking process and alternative soaking process. These gelatin sheets with different calcification conditions were measured using SD-OCT systems with 843nm centered wavelength SLD. As a result, we demonstrated that it was possible to measure the calcification on/in the gelatin sheets and sponges and phosphorylated using OCT. The main mechanism is the strong back scattering and the high scattering of deposited calcium particles.

Improved Quantitative Analysis of Spectra Using a New Method of Obtaining Derivative Spectra Based on a Singular Perturbation Technique

Spectroscopy is often applied when a rapid quantitative analysis is required, but one challenge is the translation of raw spectra into a final analysis. Derivative spectra are often used as a preliminary preprocessing step to resolve overlapping signals, enhance signal properties, and suppress unwanted spectral features that arise due to non-ideal instrument and sample properties. In this study, to improve quantitative analysis of near-infrared spectra, derivatives of noisy raw spectral data need to be estimated with high accuracy. A new spectral estimator based on singular perturbation technique, called the singular perturbation spectra estimator (SPSE), is presented, and the stability analysis of the estimator is given. Theoretical analysis and simulation experimental results confirm that the derivatives can be estimated with high accuracy using this estimator. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the estimator for processing noisy infrared spectra is evaluated using the analysis of beer spectra. The derivative spectra of the beer and the marzipan are used to build the calibration model using partial least squares (PLS) modeling. The results show that the PLS based on the new estimator can achieve better performance compared with the Savitzky–Golay algorithm and can serve as an alternative choice for quantitative analytical applications.

In vivo photoacoustic imaging of blood vessels using a homodyne interferometer with zero-crossing triggering

Abstract. We demonstrate a quasinoncontact photoacoustic imaging method using a homodyne interferometer with a long coherence length laser. The generated photoacoustic signal is detected by a system that is locked at its maximum sensitivity through the use of balanced detection and zero-crossing triggering. The balanced detector is substantially equalized, so its output is zero when the system reaches the maximum sensitivity. The synchronization approach is used to trigger the excitation and detection of the photoacoustic signal. The system is immune to ambient vibrations. A thin water layer on the sample surface is used to reduce the effect of the rough tissue surface. The performance of the system is demonstrated by in vivo imaging of the microvasculature in mouse ears.

In vivo assessment of wall strain in embryonic chick heart by spectral domain optical coherence tomography

The ability to measure in vivo wall strain in embryonic hearts is important for fully understanding the mechanisms of cardiac development. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a powerful tool for the three-dimensional imaging of complex myocardial activities in early-stage embryonic hearts with high spatial and temporal resolutions. We describe a method to analyze periodic deformations of myocardial walls and evaluate in vivo myocardial wall strains with a high-speed spectral domain OCT system. We perform four-dimensional scanning on the outflow tract (OFT) of chick embryonic hearts and determine a special cross-section in which the OFT can be approximated as an annulus by analyzing Doppler blood-flow velocities. For each image acquired at the special cross-section, the annular myocardial wall is segmented with a semiautomatic boundary-detection algorithm, and the fluctuation myocardial wall thickness is calculated from the area and mean circumference of the myocardial wall. The experimental results shown with the embryonic chick hearts demonstrate that the proposed method is a useful tool for studying the biomechanical characteristics of embryonic hearts.

Practical approach for dispersion compensation in spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

We proposed and demonstrated a digital method of dispersion compensation suitable for spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. The wavelength coordinate of the coherence spectrum was calibrated digitally using a two-order polynomial. A software-based scheme was introduced to determine the polynomial coefficients of the polynomial fitting spectrum wavelength. Therefore, the spectrum deformation introduced by dispersion can be compensated effectively. This method was experimentally validated by in vivo imaging an early-stage chick embryonic heart.

Changes in strain and blood flow in the outflow tract of chicken embryo hearts observed with spectral domain optical coherence tomography after outflow tract banding

In this paper, we demonstrated the use of a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) in visualizing and quantifying changes in cardiac wall strain and blood-flow velocities under normal and altered hemodynamic conditions in chicken embryos at an early stage of development, focusing on the heart outflow tract (OFT). OCT imaging allowed in vivo evaluation strain and strain rate of the myocardium of the OFT through analyzing the periodic variation of the myocardial wall thickness. We found that alterations in hemodynamic conditions, through OFT banding, Changed strain and blood-flow velocities through the OFT as expected.

Liquid Crystal Enabled Dynamic Nanodevices

Inspired by the anisotropic molecular shape and tunable alignment of liquid crystals (LCs), investigations on hybrid nanodevices which combine LCs with plasmonic metasurfaces have received great attention recently. Since LCs possess unique electro-optical properties, developing novel dynamic optical components by incorporating nematic LCs with nanostructures offers a variety of practical applications. Owing to the large birefringence of LCs, the optical properties of metamaterials can be electrically or optically modulated over a wide range. In this review article, we show different elegant designs of metasurface based nanodevices integrated into LCs and explore the tuning factors of transmittance/extinction/scattering spectra. Moreover, we review and classify substantial tunable devices enabled by LC-plasmonic interactions. These dynamically tunable optoelectronic nanodevices and components are of extreme importance, since they can enable a significant range of applications, including ultra-fast switching, modulating, sensing, imaging, and waveguiding. By integrating LCs with two dimensional metasurfaces, one can manipulate electromagnetic waves at the nanoscale with dramatically reduced sizes. Owing to their special electro-optical properties, recent efforts have demonstrated that more accurate manipulation of LC-displays can be engineered by precisely controlling the alignment of LCs inside small channels. In particular, device performance can be significantly improved by optimizing geometries and the surrounding environmental parameters.