Correlations between the optical phase modulation and the optical frequency and phase shifts in ultrasound-modulated optical tomography

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In ultrasound-modulated optical tomography, ultrasound causes the phase of incident light to vary periodically with ultrasound. The periodic variation in phase is known as phase modulation. The phase modulation causes the modulated light intensity to vary periodically with the ultrasound, which is called ultrasonic modulation of light. As is well known, incident light is shifted in frequency and phase by ultrasound in acousto-optic effect, and the tomography is based on the effect. However, the correlations between the phase modulation and the frequency and phase shifts in the ultrasonic modulation of light have been ignored. In this paper, the correlations are investigated theoretically and experimentally in detail. Studies reveal that the modulated light is phase-modulated by the frequency and phase shifts, and the frequency shift is the fundamental cause for the ultrasonic modulation of light. Studies show that the frequency shift, rather than the phase shift, causes the modulated light intensity to vary periodically with the ultrasound. Additionally, the modulated light intensity signal is composed of cosine signals with frequencies Ω, 2Ω, 3Ω, etc, and the amplitude of the cosine signals depends on the amplitude of the phase modulation. Then, the modulated light intensity signal contains relatively more cosine signals with high frequency as the amplitude of the phase modulation increases. At last, for the ultrasound with lower power, the amplitude ratio of cosine signals with frequencies of 2Ω and Ω increases as the scattering coefficient of turbid media increases. Studies find that both the frequency-shifted light and the amplitude ratio can be used to image turbid media.