We demonstrate the phase fluctuation introduced by oscillation of scattering centers in the focal volume of an ultrasound transducer in an optical tomography experiment has a nonzero mean. The conditions to be met for the above are: (i) the frequency of the ultrasound should be in the vicinity of the most dominant natural frequency of vibration of the ultrasound focal volume, (ii) the corresponding acoustic wavelength should be much larger than [Formula: see text], a modified transport mean-free-path applicable for phase decorrelation and (iii) the focal volume of the ultrasound transducer should not be larger than 4 - 5 times [Formula: see text]. We demonstrate through simulations that as the ratio of the ultrasound focal volume to [Formula: see text] increases, the average of the phase fluctuation decreases and becomes zero when the focal volume becomes greater than around [Formula: see text]; and through simulations and experiments that as the acoustic frequency increases from 100 Hz to 1 MHz, the average phase decreases to zero. Through experiments done in chicken breast we show that the average phase increases from around 110° to 130° when the background medium is changed from water to glycerol, indicating that the average of the phase fluctuation can be used to sense changes in refractive index deep within tissue.
Keywords: (110.0110) Imaging systems; (110.6150) Speckle imaging; (110.7170) Ultrasound; (170.0170) Medical optics and biotechnology; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging.