Instrumentation for Biomechanical Characterization of Biological Tissue by Simulataneous Coherent Imaging Using Coupled Photorefractive Holography and Speckle Shearography

Abstract

Simultaneous measurement of strain and depth- resolved imaging in soft tissue is important for complete biomechanical characterization. This can be achieved by coupling two coherent optical techniques: coherence-gated photorefractive holography and digital shearography. Whereas speckle interferometry techniques are normally used exclusively for surface material property measurements, the combination of these two techniques will allow the measurement of strain in a plane inside the material. In this work, we present initial results that validate the approach, using a long coherence length optical source and a steel plate as a test target material, as well as a diffusing cell to simulate the optical scattering of biological tissue.