Research Article

Effects of refractive index mismatch between sample and immersion medium in line-field confocal optical coherence tomography

Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d’Optique Graduate School, CNRS, Laboratoire Charles Fabry, 2 av. Augustin Fresnel, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France

^* Corresponding author: arnaud.dubois@institutoptique.fr

Received: 6 February 2024
Accepted: 14 March 2024

Abstract

Line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT) is an optical technique based on low-coherence interference microscopy with line illumination, designed for tomographic imaging of semi-transparent samples with micrometer-scale spatial resolution. A theoretical model of the signal acquired in LC-OCT is presented. The model shows that a refractive index mismatch between the sample and the immersion medium causes a dissociation of the coherence plane and the focal plane, leading to a decrease in the signal amplitude and a degradation of the image’s lateral resolution. Measurements are performed to validate and illustrate the theoretical predictions. A mathematical condition linking various experimental parameters is established to ensure that the degradation of image quality is negligible. This condition is tested experimentally by imaging a phantom. It is verified theoretically in the case of skin imaging, using experimental parameters corresponding to those of the commercially available LC-OCT device.