Optical imaging

Information about Optical imaging

Optical imaging is a scientific imaging technique using visible or infrared light. Optical imaging systems may be divided to the diffusive [1] and ballistic imaging [2] systems.

Diffusive Optical Imaging in Neuroscience

Diffusive Optical imaging may refer to a recent technique that gives cognitive neuroscientists the ability to simultaneously obtain information about the source of neural activity as well as its time course. In other words, it allows them to "see" neural activity and study the functioning of the brain.

In this method, a laser source of near infrared light is positioned on the scalp. Detectors composed of optic fiber bundles are located a few centimeters away from the light source. These detectors sense how the path of light is altered, either through absorption or scattering, as it traverses brain tissue.

This method can provide two types of information. First, it can be used to measure the absorption of light, which is related to concentration of chemicals in the brain. Second, it can measure the scattering of light, which is related to physiological characteristics such as the swelling of glia and neurons that are associated with neuronal firing. Important chemicals that this method can detect include hemoglobin and chytochromes.



Ballistic Optical Imaging

These systems ignore the diffused photons and rely only on the Ballistic photons to create high-resolution (near diffraction limit) images through scattering media.

References

1. ^ A. Gibson, J. Hebden, and S. Arridge. Recent advances in diffuse optical imaging. Phys. Med. Biol. 50, R1–R43 (2005)..
2. ^ S. Farsiu, J. Christofferson, B. Eriksson, P. Milanfar, B. Friedlander, A. Shakouri, R. Nowak. Statistical Detection and Imaging of Objects Hidden in Turbid Media Using Ballistic Photons. Applied Optics, vol. 46, no. 23, pp. 5805-5822, Aug. 2007..
A neuroscientist is an individual who studies the scientific field of neuroscience or any of its related sub-fields. Neuroscience as a distinct discipline separate from anatomy, neurology, physiology, psychology, or psychiatry is fairly recent, aided in large part by the advent of
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In animals, the brain or encephalon (Greek for "in the skull"), is the control center of the central nervous system, responsible for behavior. The brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing,
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laser is a mechanical device that produces coherent radiation. The term "laser" is an acronym: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
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Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of radio waves. The name means "below red" (from the Latin infra, "below"), red being the color of visible light with the longest wavelength.
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''For other uses of the word, see Scalp (disambiguation)
The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the face anteriorly and the neck to the sides and posteriorly.
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An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic fiber designed to guide light along its length. Fiber optics is the overlap of applied science and engineering concerned with such optical fibers.
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1 centimetre =
SI units
010−3 m 0 mm
US customary / Imperial units
010−3 ft 0 in
A centimetre (American spelling: centimeter, symbol cm
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Absorption may refer to:
  • Absorption (chemistry), absorption of particles of gas or liquid in liquid or solid material
  • Absorption (cooking), a method in cooking in which a food (such as rice) takes up the liquid in which it is immersed

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Scattering is a general physical process whereby some forms of radiation, such as light, sound or moving particles, for example, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more localized non-uniformities in the medium through which it passes.
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Glial cells, commonly called neuroglia or simply glia (greek for "glue"), are non-neuronal cells that provide support and nutrition, maintain homeostasis, form myelin, and participate in signal transmission in the nervous system.
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Neurons (also known as neurones and nerve cells) are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system that process and transmit information. In vertebrate animals, neurons are the core components of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.
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Ballistic Photons are the light photons that travel through the scattering (turbid) media in straight line. If laser pulses are sent through a turbid media (e.g. fog, body tissue), most of the photons are either randomly scattered or absorbed.
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