Geometrical tomographic imaging of refractive indices through turbid media by a wavelength-scanning heterodyne interference confocal microscope.

A wavelength-scanning heterodyne interference confocal microscope has proved to provide the tomographic image of the refractive indices of transparent and turbid media on the scale of geometrical depth when weakly reflected light with an optical power as low as of the order of 10(-14) W is used. The refractive indices of the transparent object and the turbid media were measured with accuracies of -0.5% and approximately 3%, respectively. This imaging method is advantageous for evaluating quantitative refractive indices and internal structures.