Dynamic Range of Optical Reflectometry with Spectral Interferometry

Abstract

I present an optical reflectometry (OR) technique with spectral interferometry (SIOR) that realizes high dynamic range compared with a conventional OR system using the delayed heterodyne technique (DHOR), and report on the application of this system to noninvasive in vivo measurements of the structure of the skin and the nail of an index finger. The theoretically derived dynamic range of SIOR is m/4-times superior to that of DHOR, where m is the number of independent image pixels. A dynamic range of 105 db was experimentally realized, which is comparable to the theoretically expected dynamic range of 112 db.