Detection of multiple scattering in optical coherence tomography by speckle correlation of angle-dependent B-scans

Angular diversity is a successful speckle-reduction technique in optical coherence tomography (OCT). We employ angle-dependent detection for a different purpose: to distinguish the singly backscattered and multiply scattered signal components. Single backscattering is highly correlated over a large range of detection angles; multiple scattering rapidly decorrelates as the angle is varied. Theoretical justification is provided using a linear-systems description of the OCT imaging process; detection of multiple scattering is corroborated experimentally. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America