Focusing through a turbid medium by amplitude modulation with genetic algorithm

Abstract

Multiple scattering of light in opaque materials such as white paint and human tissue forms a volume speckle field, will greatly reduce the imaging depth and degrade the imaging quality. A novel approach is proposed to focus light through a turbid medium using amplitude modulation with genetic algorithm (GA) from speckle patterns. Compared with phase modulation method, amplitude modulation approach, in which the each element of spatial light modulator (SLM) is either zero or one, is much easier to achieve. Theoretical and experimental results show that, the advantage of GA is more suitable for low the signal to noise ratio (SNR) environments in comparison to the existing amplitude control algorithms such as binary amplitude modulation. The circular Gaussian distribution model and Rayleigh Sommerfeld diffraction theory are employed in our simulations to describe the turbid medium and light propagation between optical devices, respectively. It is demonstrated that the GA technique can achieve a higher overall enhancement, and converge much faster than others, and outperform all algorithms at high noise. Focusing through a turbid medium has potential in the observation of cells and protein molecules in biological tissues and other structures in micro/nano scale.