Aperture-coded confocal profilometry.

This Letter introduces a novel principle to the confocal profilometry for simultaneous measurement of surface position and tilt. The principle relies on an angle-dependent coding of the illumination of the surface-under-test, achieved by dividing the pupil into several subapertures. The reflected light is decoded to perform an angle-resolved analysis by measuring the intensity contributions of each individual subaperture.

Wound perimeter, area, and volume measurement based on laser 3D and color acquisition.

Background: Wound measuring serves medical personnel as a tool to assess the effectiveness of a therapy and predict its outcome. Clinically used methods vary from measuring using rules and calipers to sophisticated methods, based on 3D measuring. Our method combines the added value of 3D measuring and well-known segmentation algorithms to enable volume calculation and achieve reliable and operator-independent analysis, as we demonstrate in the paper.

Method for optodynamic source localization during Er:YAG laser ablation.

We present an improved optodynamic (OD) method which enables measurement of the distance between the OD source on the ablated surface and a piezoelectric sensor above it, with a relative error of about 1%. The method is based on the point explosion model and allows determination of the distance to the OD source and the released energy for each detected OD signal. We estimate the distance and released energy on the basis of two measured OD signal characteristics: the time of flight and the duration of the compressive phase.

Measurements of erbium laser-ablation efficiency in hard dental tissues under different water cooling conditions.

Laser triangulation measurements of Er:YAG and Er,Cr:YSGG laser-ablated volumes in hard dental tissues are made, in order to verify the possible existence of a "hydrokinetic" effect that has been proposed as an alternative to the "subsurface water expansion" mechanism for hard-tissue laser ablation. No evidence of the hydrokinetic effect could be observed under a broad range of tested laser parameters and water cooling conditions. On the contrary, the application of water spray during laser exposure of hard dental material is observed to diminish the laser-ablation efficiency (AE) in comparison with laser exposure under the absence of water spray.

Characterization of the head-to-trunk orientation with handheld optical 3D apparatus based on the fringe projection technique.

Background: Knowing the orientation of the head is important in many fields, including medicine. Many methods and measuring systems exist, but usually they use different markers or sensors attached to the subject's head for head orientation determination. In certain applications these attachments may represent a burden or a distraction to the subject under study which may have an unfavourable impact on the measurement.