Acousto-optical coherence tomography (AOCT) is a variant of acousto-optic imaging (also called ultrasonic modulation imaging) that makes it possible to get the z resolution with acoustic and optic continuous wave beams. We describe here theoretically the AOCT effect, and we show that the acousto-optic "tagged photons" remain coherent if they are generated within a specific z region of the sample. We quantify the z selectivity for both the "tagged photon" field and for the Lesaffre et al. [Opt. Express 17, 18211 (2009)] photorefractive signal.
© 2011 Optical Society of America