Feasibility of rapid near-infrared diffuse optical tomography by swept-spectral-encoded sequential light delivery

摘要

We investigate the feasibility of rapid near infrared diffuse optical tomography by spectrally-encoded sequential light delivery using wavelength-swept source. The wavelength-swept light beam is dispersed by a spectrometer to form "swept-spectral-encoded" light beam which scans linearly across the exit window of the spectrometer and delivers sequential illumination to linearly bundled source fibers. A data acquisition rate of 0.5 frame/second is reached from a 4mW 830nm swept-source and a 20mm-diameter transverse-imaging intra-lumenal applicator with 7 source and 8 detector channels placed in a liquid phantom. Higher rate of data acquisition is achievable with more powerful wavelength-swept source or in a smaller imaging regime. This new configuration is intended for being implemented in rapid fluorescence diffuse optical tomography by enabling sequential source-channel-encoded excitations of fluorophores.