Polarization enhanced spectral contrast for optical coherence tomography

Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) measures the polarization state of backscattered light and provides information regarding its retardation and depolarization caused by propagation through tissue microstructure. Developing molecular contrast agents could enhance the utility of OCT for physiological, cellular, and molecular imaging. In this study, we characterize for the first time the depolarization signature of gold nanobipyramids (GNBPs) and demonstrate how depolarization can be used to enhance Spectral Contrast OCT based detection of GNBPs for multiplexed contrast agent detection.