Research Overview

Strong scattering of light propagating through tissue limits the maximum depth an optical wave may be focused to, inhibiting the use of light in medical diagnostics and therapeutics. We utilize phase conjugation with an ultrasound (US) generated guide star to suppress the scattering in tissue. A US beam is focused to a point in tissue inducing variations in the optical properties, thus modulating the optical signal. The detected wave-front is demodulated, conjugated and transmitted back into the tissue where it converges to the ultrasound’s focus.

We are currently analyzing this technique utilizing Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulations to propagate the optical wave in synthetic tissue models and phantoms.

Optical Science Laboratory

This research project is part of the work at the Optical Science Laboratory of Chuck DiMarzio in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University. For other projects see Optical Science Lab Research Page.