Digital optical phase conjugation for delivering two-dimensional images through turbid media

Sci Rep. 2013:3:1909. doi: 10.1038/srep01909.

Abstract

Optical transmission through complex media such as biological tissue is fundamentally limited by multiple light scattering. Precise control of the optical wavefield potentially holds the key to advancing a broad range of light-based techniques and applications for imaging or optical delivery. We present a simple and robust digital optical phase conjugation (DOPC) implementation for suppressing multiple light scattering. Utilizing wavefront shaping via a spatial light modulator (SLM), we demonstrate its turbidity-suppression capability by reconstructing the image of a complex two-dimensional wide-field target through a highly scattering medium. Employing an interferometer with a Sagnac-like ring design, we successfully overcome the challenging alignment and wavefront-matching constraints in DOPC, reflecting the requirement that the forward- and reverse-propagation paths through the turbid medium be identical. By measuring the output response to digital distortion of the SLM write pattern, we validate the sub-wavelength sensitivity of the system.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computer Simulation
  • Equipment Design
  • Lighting / methods*
  • Liquid Crystals
  • Nephelometry and Turbidimetry / instrumentation*
  • Optical Devices*
  • Optical Imaging*
  • Scattering, Radiation
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Zinc Oxide / chemistry

Substances

  • Zinc Oxide