Significance: Spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) is a diffuse optical measurement technique that can quantify tissue optical absorption (μ_a) and reduced scattering (μs′) on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Measurements of μ_a at different wavelengths enable the extraction of molar concentrations of tissue chromophores over a wide field, providing a noncontact and label-free means to assess tissue viability, oxygenation, microarchitecture, and molecular content. We present here openSFDI: an open-source guide for building a low-cost, small-footprint, three-wavelength SFDI system capable of quantifying μ_a and μs′ as well as oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations in biological tissue. The companion website provides a complete parts list along with detailed instructions for assembling the openSFDI system.

Aim: We describe the design of openSFDI and report on the accuracy and precision of optical property extractions for three different systems fabricated according to the instructions on the openSFDI website.

Approach: Accuracy was assessed by measuring nine tissue-simulating optical phantoms with a physiologically relevant range of μ_a and μs′ with the openSFDI systems and a commercial SFDI device. Precision was assessed by repeatedly measuring the same phantom over 1 h.

Results: The openSFDI systems had an error of 0  ±  6  %   in μ_a and −2  ±  3  %   in μs′, compared to a commercial SFDI system. Bland–Altman analysis revealed the limits of agreement between the two systems to be   ±  0.004  mm^−  1 for μ_a and −0.06 to 0.1  mm^−  1 for μs′. The openSFDI system had low drift with an average standard deviation of 0.0007  mm^−  1 and 0.05  mm^−  1 in μ_a and μs′, respectively.

Conclusion: The openSFDI provides a customizable hardware platform for research groups seeking to utilize SFDI for quantitative diffuse optical imaging.

We present a Monte Carlo (MC) method to determine depth-dependent probability distributions of photon visitation and detection for optical reflectance measurements performed in the spatial frequency domain (SFD). These distributions are formed using an MC simulation for radiative transport that utilizes a photon packet weighting procedure consistent with the two-dimensional spatial Fourier transform of the radiative transport equation. This method enables the development of quantitative metrics for SFD optical sampling depth in layered tissue and its dependence on both tissue optical properties and spatial frequency. We validate the computed depth-dependent probability distributions using SFD measurements in a layered phantom system with a highly scattering top layer of variable thickness supported by a highly absorbing base layer. We utilize our method to establish the spatial frequency-dependent optical sampling depth for a number of tissue types and also provide a general tool to determine such depths for tissues of arbitrary optical properties.