Paper
8 July 2003 In vivo depth-resolved birefringence measurements of the human retinal nerve fiber layer using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography
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Abstract
We present in vivo depth-resolved birefringence measurements of the human retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) by use of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). Because glaucoma causes nerve fiber layer damage, which may cause loss of retinal birefringence, PS-OCT is a potentially useful technique for the early detection of glaucoma. We built a fiber-based PS-OCT setup that produces real-time images of the human retina in vivo, co-registered with video images of the location of PS-OCT scans on the retina. Preliminary measurements of a healthy volunteer showed that the double-pass phase retardation per unit depth of the RNFL varies with location with values in between 0.18 and 0.37°/μm. A trend in the preliminary measurements shows that thicker nerve fiber layer tissue is more birefringent than thin nerve fiber layer tissue.
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Barry Cense, Teresa Chen, Boris Hyle Park, Mark C. Pierce, and Johannes F. de Boer "In vivo depth-resolved birefringence measurements of the human retinal nerve fiber layer using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography", Proc. SPIE 4956, Coherence Domain Optical Methods and Optical Coherence Tomography in Biomedicine VII, (8 July 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479027
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KEYWORDS
Birefringence

Nerve

Optical coherence tomography

Polarization

Retina

In vivo imaging

Eye

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