Ultradeep optical coherence tomography

Ultradeep optical coherence tomography extends label-free structural imaging depth to 2.3–2.8 mm (mean 2.5 mm) in ex vivo mouse brain, enabling dorsal hippocampus segmentation.

• Why it matters: Scattering and absorption limit deep optical imaging of intact brain tissue, restricting study of subcortical structures.
• What they did: The method uses 1575 nm illumination, spectral-domain balanced detection, conjugate imaging with zero optical path difference positioned deep in tissue, plus autocorrelation artifact subtraction and coherent averaging with computational refocusing and bandwidth control.
• The result: In ex vivo mouse brain, it produces volumes with sufficient contrast to segment dorsal hippocampus and reconstruct it in 3D, while thalamic features are also discernible.

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