Influence of optical aberrations on depth-specific spatial frequency domain techniques

Significance Spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) and spatial frequency domain spectroscopy (SFDS) are emerging tools to non-invasively assess tissues. However, the presence of aberrations can complicate processing and interpretation. Aim This study develops a method to characterize optical aberrations when performing SFDI/S measurements. Additionally, we propose a post-processing method to compensate for these aberrations and recover arbitrary subsurface optical properties. Approach Using a custom SFDS system, we extract absorption and scattering coefficients from a reference phantom at 0 to 15 mm distances from the ideal focus. In post-processing, we characterize aberrations in terms of errors in absorption and scattering relative to the expected in-focus values. We subsequently evaluate a compensation approach in multi-distance measurements of phantoms with different optical properties and in multi-layer phantom constructs to mimic subsurface targets. Results Characterizing depth-specific aberrations revealed a strong power law such as wavelength dependence from ∼40 to ∼10 % error in both scattering and absorption. When applying the compensation method, scattering remained within 1.3% (root-mean-square) of the ideal values, independent of depth or top layer thickness, and absorption remained within 3.8%. Conclusions We have developed a protocol that allows for instrument-specific characterization and compensation for the effects of defocus and chromatic aberrations on spatial frequency domain measurements. Funding: Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundations Center for Molecular Medicine at Linkoeping University (WCMM)