Optical coherence tomography images simulated with an analytical solution of Maxwell's equations for cylinder scattering.

Abstract

An algorithm for the simulation of image formation in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) for an infinitely long cylinder is presented. The analytical solution of Maxwell’s equations for light scattering by a single cylinder is employed for the case of perpendicular incidence to calculate OCT images. The A-scans and the time-resolved scattered intensities are compared to geometrical optics results calculated with a ray tracing approach. The reflection peaks, including the whispering gallery modes, are identified. Additionally, the Debye series expansion is employed to identify single peaks in the OCT A-scans. Furthermore, a Gaussian beam is implemented in order to simulate lateral scanning over the cylinder for two-dimensional B-scans. The fields are integrated over a certain angular range to simulate a detection aperture. In addition, the solution for light scattering by layered cylinders is employed and the various layers are identified in the resulting OCT image. Overall, the simulations in this work show that OCT images do not always display the real surface of investigated samples.