Angular domain optical imaging of structures within highly scattering material using silicon micromachined collimating arrays

Glenn H. Chapman; Maria Trinh; Desmond Lee; Nick Pfeiffer; Gary Chu

doi:10.1117/12.478214

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29 July 2003 Angular domain optical imaging of structures within highly scattering material using silicon micromachined collimating arrays

Glenn H. Chapman, Maria Trinh, Desmond Lee, Nick Pfeiffer, Gary Chu

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Proceedings Volume 4955, Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy of Tissue V; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.478214
Event: Biomedical Optics, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Optically Tomography within highly scattering material has focused on Coherence Domain and Time Domain methods: both detecting the shorting path photons over the dominant randomly scattered background light. Angular Domain Imaging instead uses collimators, small acceptance angle filters, to observe only those photons closely aligned to a laser light source. A linear collimating array was fabricated using silicon surface micromachining consisting of 51 μm wide by 10 mm long etched channels with 102 μm spacing very high aspect ration (200:1) 20 mm wide array. With careful array alignment to a laser source, restricted to a linear beam, the unscattered laser light passes directly through the channels to a CCD detector, and the channel walls absorb the scattered light at angles >0.29 degrees. With a computer controlled Z axis objects within a 1 cm thick scattering material were scanned quickly. High contrast 150 μm lines/spaces at the medium front were observed at scattered to ballistic photon ratios >5×10⁵:1 with a 10 mm beam. Narrowing the beam to 130 μm width produces detectable images >3×10⁸:1. Objects closer to the detector were more visible, and mid point objects were detectable >10⁹:1. Smaller channels and longer arrays should enhance detection by factors of >100.

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Glenn H. Chapman, Maria Trinh, Desmond Lee, Nick Pfeiffer, and Gary Chu "Angular domain optical imaging of structures within highly scattering material using silicon micromachined collimating arrays", Proc. SPIE 4955, Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy of Tissue V, (29 July 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.478214

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