The ability to image through turbid media such as organic tissues, is a highly attractive prospect for biological and medical imaging. This is challenging however, due to the highly scattering properties of tissues which scramble the image information. The earliest photons that arrive at the detector are often associated with ballistic transmission, whilst the later photons are associated with complex paths due to multiple independent scattering events and are therefore typically considered to be detrimental to the final image formation process. In this work we report on the importance of these highly diffuse, "late" photons for computational time-of-flight diffuse optical imaging. In thick scattering materials, >80 transport mean free paths, we provide evidence that including late photons in the inverse retrieval enhances the image reconstruction quality. We also show that the late photons alone have sufficient information to retrieve images of a similar quality to early photon gated data. This result emphasises the importance in the strongly diffusive regime discussed here, of fully time-resolved imaging techniques.
Imaging through diffusers presents a challenging problem with various digital image reconstruction solutions demonstrated to date using computers. We present a computer-free, all-optical image reconstruction method to see through random diffusers at the speed of light. Using deep learning, a set of diffractive surfaces are designed/trained to all-optically reconstruct images of objects that are covered by random phase diffusers. We experimentally demonstrated this concept using coherent THz illumination and all-optically reconstructed objects distorted by unknown, random diffusers, never used …
We introduce a practical digital holographic method capable of imaging through a diffusive or scattering medium. The method relies on statistical averaging from a rotating ground glass diffuser to negate the adverse effects caused by speckle introduced by a first, static diffuser or scattering medium. In particular, a setup based on Fourier transform holography is used to show that an image can be recovered after scattering by introducing an additional diffuser in the optical setup. This method is capable of recovering object information from behind a scattering layer in biomedical or military…
Light scattering by tissue severely limits how deep beneath the surface one can image, and the spatial resolution one can obtain from these images. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is one of the most powerful techniques for imaging deep within tissue -- well beyond the conventional $\sim$10-15 mean scattering lengths tolerated by ballistic imaging techniques such as confocal and two-photon microscopy. Unfortunately, existing DOT systems are limited, achieving only centimeter-scale resolution. Furthermore, they suffer from slow acquisition times and slow reconstruction speeds making real-time i…
We present a compact, diffuser-assisted, single-pixel computational camera. A rotating ground glass diffuser is adopted, in preference to a commonly used digital micro-mirror device (DMD), to encode a two-dimensional (2D) image into single-pixel signals. We retrieve images with an 8.8% sampling ratio after the calibration of the pseudo-random pattern of the diffuser under incoherent illumination. Furthermore, we demonstrate hyperspectral imaging with line array detection by adding a diffraction grating. The implementation results in a cost-effective single-pixel camera for high-dimensional ima…
Poor access to eye care is a major global challenge that could be ameliorated by low-cost, portable, and easy-to-use diagnostic technologies. Diffuser-based imaging has the potential to enable inexpensive, compact optical systems that can reconstruct a focused image of an object over a range of defocus errors. Here, we present a diffuser-based computational funduscope that reconstructs important clinical features of a model eye. Compared to existing diffuser-imager architectures, our system features an infinite-conjugate design by relaying the ocular lens onto the diffuser. This offers shift-i…
Computational imaging through scatter generally is accomplished by first characterizing the scattering medium so that its forward operator is obtained; and then imposing additional priors in the form of regularizers on the reconstruction functional so as to improve the condition of the originally ill-posed inverse problem. In the functional, the forward operator and regularizer must be entered explicitly or parametrically (e.g. scattering matrices and dictionaries, respectively.) However, the process of determining these representations is often incomplete, prone to errors, or infeasible. Rece…
Imaging through a strongly diffusive medium remains an outstanding challenge in particular in association with applications in biological and medical imaging. Here we propose a method based on a single-photon time-of-flight camera that allows, in combination with computational processing of the spatial and full temporal photon distribution data, to image an object embedded inside a strongly diffusive medium over more than 80 transport mean free paths. The technique is contactless and requires one second acquisition times thus allowing Hz frame rate imaging. The imaging depth corresponds to sev…
We report a time-resolved single photon counting (TCSPC) imaging system based on a line-scanning architecture. The system benefits from the high fill-factor, active area, and large dimension of an advanced CMOS single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array line-sensor. A two-dimensional image is constructed using a moving mirror to scan the line-sensor field-of-view (FOV) across the target, to enable the efficient acquisition of a two-dimensional 0.26 Mpixel TCSPC image. We demonstrate the capabilities of the system for TCSPC imaging and locating objects obscured in scattering media - specificall…
University of California, Los Angeles（加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校）；California Nano Systems Institute (CNSI)（加州纳米系统研究所）
Imaging through diffusive media is a challenging problem, where the existing solutions heavily rely on digital computers to reconstruct distorted images. We provide a detailed analysis of a computer-free, all-optical imaging method for seeing through random, unknown phase diffusers using diffractive neural networks, covering different deep learning-based training strategies. By analyzing various diffractive networks designed to image through random diffusers with different correlation lengths, a trade-off between the image reconstruction fidelity and distortion reduction capability of the diff…
Phasor-field (P-field) imaging is a promising recent solution to the task of non-line-of-sight (NLoS) imaging, colloquially referred to as "seeing around corners". It consists of treating the oscillating envelope of amplitude-modulated, spatially-incoherent light as if it were itself an optical wave, akin to the oscillations of the underlying electromagnetic field. This resemblance enables traditional optical imaging strategies, e.g., lenses, to be applied to NLoS imaging tasks. To date, however, this ability has only been applied computationally. In this paper, we provide a rigorous mathemati…
The penetration depth of photoacoustic imaging in biological tissues has been fundamentally limited by the strong optical attenuation when light is delivered externally through the tissue surface. To address this issue, we previously reported internal-illumination photoacoustic imaging using a customized radial-emission optical fiber diffuser, which, however, has complex fabrication, high cost, and non-uniform light emission. To overcome these shortcomings, we have developed a new type of low-cost fiber diffusers based on a graded-scattering method in which the optical scattering of the fiber …
Imaging through scattering is an important, yet challenging problem. Tremendous progress has been made by exploiting the deterministic input-output "transmission matrix" for a fixed medium. However, this "one-to-one" mapping is highly susceptible to speckle decorrelations - small perturbations to the scattering medium lead to model errors and severe degradation of the imaging performance. Our goal here is to develop a new framework that is highly scalable to both medium perturbations and measurement requirement. To do so, we propose a statistical "one-to-all" deep learning technique that encap…
We present an intensity speckle simulation algorithm based on stochastic differential equations. Intensity speckles are generated with a negative exponential distribution and an exponential auto-correlation decay. The mean of the distribution is spatially varying dictated by photon diffusion to take into account of diffuse speckles. The algorithm is validated using simulation studies for both surface and deep tissue blood flow with potential applications in diffuse correlation spectroscopy.
Encoding of spectral information onto monochrome imaging cameras is of interest for wavelength multiplexing and hyperspectral imaging applications. Here, the complex spatio-spectral response of a disordered material is used to demonstrate retrieval of a number of discrete wavelengths over a wide spectral range. Strong, diffuse light scattering in a semiconductor nanowire mat is used to achieve a highly compact spectrometer of micrometer thickness, transforming different wavelengths into distinct speckle patterns with nanometer sensitivity. Spatial multiplexing is achieved through the use of a …
Mie scattering due to tissue structures in the terahertz regime: Experimental and Monte Carlo verification using diffused polarimetric imaging in highly attenuating tissue phantoms
Conventional approaches for 3D imaging in or through scattering media are usually limited to 2D reconstruction of objects at some discontinuous locations, although the time-consuming iteration, guide-star, or complex system are implemented. How to quickly visualize dynamic 3D objects behind scattering media is still an open issue. Here, by using structured light illumination, we propose a single-shot technique that can quickly acquire continuous 3D surfaces of objects hidden behind the diffuser. The proposed method can realize the 3D imaging of single, multiple, and dynamic targets from the sp…
A thermal ghost imaging scheme between two distant parties is proposed and experimentally demonstrated over long-distance optical fibers. In the scheme, the weak thermal light is split into two paths. Photons in one path are spatially diffused according to their frequencies by a spatial dispersion component, then illuminate the object and record its spatial transmission information. Photons in the other path are temporally diffused by a temporal dispersion component. By the coincidence measurement between photons of two paths, the object can be imaged in a way of ghost imaging, based on the fr…
Diffuse optical breast imaging utilizes near-infrared (NIR) light propagation through tissues to assess the optical properties of tissue for the identification of abnormal tissue. This optical imaging approach is sensitive, cost-effective, and does not involve any ionizing radiation. However, the image reconstruction of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is a nonlinear inverse problem and suffers from severe ill-posedness, especially in the cases of strong noise and incomplete data. In this paper, a novel image reconstruction method is proposed for the detection of breast cancer. This method spl…
University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；California Nano Systems Institute (CNSI)（加州纳米系统研究所）
Classification of an object behind a random and unknown scattering medium sets a challenging task for computational imaging and machine vision fields. Recent deep learning-based approaches demonstrated the classification of objects using diffuser-distorted patterns collected by an image sensor. These methods demand relatively large-scale computing using deep neural networks running on digital computers. Here, we present an all-optical processor to directly classify unknown objects through unknown, random phase diffusers using broadband illumination detected with a single pixel. A set of transm…
Duke University（杜克大学）；Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Lund University（隆德大学）；Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School（清华大学深圳国际研究生院）
Noninvasive optical imaging through dynamic scattering media has numerous important biomedical applications but still remains a challenging task. While standard diffuse imaging methods measure optical absorption or fluorescent emission, it is also well-established that the temporal correlation of scattered coherent light diffuses through tissue much like optical intensity. Few works to date, however, have aimed to experimentally measure and process such temporal correlation data to demonstrate deep-tissue video reconstruction of decorrelation dynamics. In this work, we utilize a single-photon …
Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) is a reliable and widespread technique for monitoring qualitative changes in absorption inside highly scattering media. It has been shown, however, that Acousto-Optic (AO) imaging can provide significantly more qualitative information, without the need for inversion algorithms, due to the spatial resolution afforded by ultrasound probing. In this article, we show how, by using multiple-wavelength AO imaging, it is also possible to perform quantitative measurements of absorber concentration inside scattering media.
Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) use near-infrared light for imaging optical properties of biological tissues. Time-domain DOT systems use pulsed lasers and measure time-varying temporal point spread function (TPSF), carrying information from both superficial and deep layers of imaged target. In this work, feasibility of nanosecond scale light pulses as sources for time-domain DOT is studied. Nanosecond sources enable using relatively robust measurement setups with standard analog-to-digital converter waveform digitizers, such as digital oscilloscopes. However, this type of systems have variat…
Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is an imaging modality which uses near-infrared light. Although iterative numerical schemes are commonly used for its inverse problem, correct solutions are not obtained unless good initial guesses are chosen. We propose a numerical scheme of DOT which works even when good initial guesses of optical parameters are not available. We use simulated annealing (SA) which is a method of the Markov-chain Monte Carlo. To implement SA for DOT, a spin Hamiltonian is introduced in the cost function, and the Metropolis algorithm or single-component Metropolis-Hastings algo…
We demonstrate a high-speed method to image objects through a thin scattering medium and around a corner. The method employs a reference object of known shape to retrieve the speckle-like point spread function of the scatterer. We extract the point spread function of the scatterer from a dynamic scene that includes a static reference object, and use this to image the dynamic objects. Sharp images are reconstructed from the transmission through a diffuser and from reflection off a rough surface. The sharp and clean reconstructed images from single shot data exemplify the robustness of the metho…
This article reviews deep learning applications in biomedical optics with a particular emphasis on image formation. The review is organized by imaging domains within biomedical optics and includes microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging, in vivo microscopy, widefield endoscopy, optical coherence tomography, photoacoustic imaging, diffuse tomography, and functional optical brain imaging. For each of these domains, we summarize how deep learning has been applied and highlight methods by which deep learning can enable new capabilities for optics in medicine. Challenges and opportunities to impr…
We develop a method based on the cross-spectrum of an intensity-modulated CW laser, which can extract a signal from an extremely noisy environment and image objects hidden in turbid media. We theoretically analyzed our scheme and performed the experiment by scanning the object placed in between two ground glass diffusers. The image of the object is retrieved by collecting the amplitudes at the modulation frequency of all the cross-spectra. Our method is non-invasive, easy-to-implement, and can work for both static and dynamic media.
Traditional imaging systems, such as the eye or cameras, image scenes that lie in the direct line-of-sight (LoS). Most objects are opaque in the optical and infrared regimes and can limit dramatically the field of view (FoV). Current approaches to see around occlusions exploit the multireflection propagation of signals from neighboring surfaces either in the microwave or the optical bands. Using lower frequency signals anatomical information is limited and images suffer from clutter while optical systems encounter diffuse scattering from most surfaces and suffer from path loss, thus limiting t…
