Measurement of particle concentration in flow by statistical analyses of optical coherence tomography signals

We present a statistic method to measure the concentration of particles in flow by the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT). This method is based on the fact that the fluctuating numbers of particles contained within a small OCT detection volume caused by Brownian motion are governed by Poissonian distribution. Particle concentration is evaluated from the statistical analyzes of the OCT intensity signals that are backscattered by the moving particles. The method is experimentally verified with flow phantoms of polymer microspheres. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical ones for low concentrations while relatively large discrepancies emerge for high concentrations. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America