Center for Biomedical OCT Research and Translation

Project Summary Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) was introduced more than 20-years ago but has only recently reached the level of technological maturity needed to support biomedical translation. Today, PS-OCT is one of the most exciting methods in OCT and promises to open a new set of doors in applications from intravascular cardiology to nerve-

sparing in surgery. However, specialized phantoms are needed to support the development of PS-OCT but are not broadly available. Our P41 Center has developed PS-OCT phantoms that we have used to support our internal PS-OCT development, but which require careful and unpredictable fabrication methods. Here, we propose modifications and optimizations to the

phantom design to allow these PS-OCT phantoms to be easily made by any group using broadly available materials. By developing and sharing these phantoms through the NIST/NIBIB Imaging Phantom Library, this work can act to accelerate PS-OCT development and translation and to enhance the robustness and interpretability of PS-OCT imaging study results.