Detection of multiple scattering in optical coherence tomography using the spatial distribution of Stokes vectors

Multiple scattering is one of the main degrading influences in optical coherence tomography, but to date its presence in an image can only be indirectly inferred. We present a polarization-sensitive method that shows the potential to detect it more directly, based on the degree to which the detected polarization state at any given image point is correlated with the mean state over the surrounding region. We report the validation of the method in microsphere suspensions, showing a strong dependence of the degree of correlation upon the extent to which multiply scattered light is coherently detected. We demonstrate the method's utility in various tissues, including chicken breast ex vivo and human skin and nailfold in vivo. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.