8 - Cellular-Level Optical Biopsy Using Full-Field Optical Coherence Microscopy

Abstract

Full-field optical coherence microscopy (FF-OCM) is a biomedical imaging technique based on white-light interference microscopy. FF-OCM produces tomographic images in the en face orientation by arithmetic combination of interferometric images acquired with an area camera and by illuminating the whole field to be imaged with low-coherence light. The major interest for FF-OCM lies in its ultrahigh imaging resolution in both transverse and axial directions using a simple and robust experimental arrangement. This chapter provides an overview of the principle of FF-OCM. The system characteristics are reported in detail, including the detection sensitivity and spatial resolution. Several of the challenges, advantages, and drawbacks of the technique are discussed and compared with those of other optical imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy. Images of human breast tissue are presented to illustrate the potential of FF-OCM for cellular-level anatomopathological examinations without sample processing.