In situ detection of nuclear atypia in Barrett's esophagus by using angle-resolved low-coherence interferometry.

Background: Monitoring of patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) for dysplasia, currently done by systematic biopsy, can be improved through increasing the proportion of at-risk tissue examined.

Objective: Optical biopsy techniques, which do not remove the tissue but interrogate the tissue with light, offer a potential method to improve the monitoring of BE. Frequency-domain angle resolved low-coherence interferometry (fa/LCI) is an optical spectroscopic technique applied through an endoscopic fiber bundle and measures the depth-resolved nuclear morphology of tissue, a key biomarker for identifying dysplasia.

Label-free measurement of microbicidal gel thickness using low-coherence interferometry.

Spectral-domain low-coherence interferometry (LCI) was used to measure the thickness of microbicidal gels applied to a cylindrical calibration test socket. Microbicides are topical formulations containing active ingredients targeted to inhibit specific pathogens that are currently under development for application to the epithelial lining of the lower female reproductive tract to combat sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. Understanding the deployment and drug delivery of these formulations is vital to maximizing their effectiveness.

Fourier-domain angle-resolved low coherence interferometry through an endoscopic fiber bundle for light-scattering spectroscopy.

We present a novel endoscopic fiber bundle probe incorporated in a Fourier-domain angle-resolved low coherence interferometry system for the measurement of depth-resolved angular scattering distributions to permit the determination of scatterer size via elastic scattering properties. Depth resolution is achieved with a superluminescent diode via a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The sample is illuminated with a collimated beam, and a Fourier plane image of the backscattered light is collected by a coherent fiber bundle.