OSC Colloquium: Cristina Canavesi, "High-definition, 3D Imaging with OCX: Combining Optical Coherence Tomography and Gabor-Domain Optical Coherence Microscopy"

March 21, 2024
Cristina Canavesi

Optical Engineering

Cristina Canavesi Colloquium

Title

High-definition, 3D Imaging with OCX: Combining Optical Coherence Tomography and Gabor-Domain Optical Coherence Microscopy

Abstract

Optical technologies, with the capability to non-invasively image cellular structures in real-time, have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical imaging technique based on low-coherence interferometry yielding an axial resolution on the micrometer-scale. Gabor-domain optical coherence microscopy (GDOCM), a high lateral-resolution version of OCT leveraging dynamic refocusing and precision scanning, achieves isotropic 2 μm resolution in 3D. In the past decade, GDOCM has demonstrated 3D cellular imaging in various clinical applications, including dermatology, oncology and ophthalmology, as well as nondestructive inspection in industrial applications.

OCX is a novel dual-modality imaging system that combines optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Gabor-Domain Optical Coherence Microscopy (GDOCM) to simultaneously visualize tissue morphology in three dimensions and resolve cellular features over a 10 x 10 mm2 region. The OCT modality is first used to survey the sample and identify the region of interest, followed by high-definition imaging with GDOCM. OCX enables optical biopsy capabilities in a compact format. 

The structural OCX imaging capability has been enhanced by adding functional modalities and by incorporating machine learning techniques. In particular, convolutional neural networks were applied to automatically segment the endothelial cells in human cornea for quantitative, unbiased assessment of corneal health. A novel algorithm for optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), an attractive diagnostic tool for non-invasive, label-free vascular imaging in vivo, was demonstrated in conjunction with OCX to extract high-resolution cutaneous vasculature, significantly improving the visualization and characterization of micro-capillaries in vivo. 

Bio

Cristina Canavesi is the Co-Founder and President of LighTopTech Corp., an optical technology company based in Rochester, NY that is building innovative optical instruments for noninvasive imaging in medical and industrial fields. She holds a Ph.D. in Optics from The Institute of Optics, and an MBA from Simon School of Business, University of Rochester. Dr. Canavesi was a Fulbright fellow. She was awarded the SPIE Optical Design and Engineering Scholarship (2012) and was the 2015 recipient of the Hugh H. Whitney Award at the Simon School of Business, University of Rochester. Dr. Canavesi is the Secretary of WiSTEE (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Entrepreneurship) Connect and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma. Dr. Canavesi was a 2019 Millennials in Manufacturing Awardee and was selected for Inspiring Fifty Italy in 2021. Her research interests include biomedical imaging for optical biopsy and image processing for unbiased assessment of tissue properties.

 

Contact

Florian Willomitzer, Colloquium Chair & Professor: colloquium@optics.arizona.edu

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Donna Strickland Colloquium
OSC Colloquium: Donna Strickland, "High Intensity Fiber lasers for Nonlinear Optics"
3:30 – 5 p.m., Dec. 5, 2024

Ti:sapphire lasers offer the largest bandwidths and therefore the shortest pulses.   The highest laser intensities have been achieved using Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) of large diameter solid state lasers.  CPA was needed to avoid damage from the nonlinear process of self-focusing.  The disadvantage of solid-state lasers is the limited average power.  On the other hand, diode pumped fiber laser systems offer significantly higher average power than solid state lasers. Self-focusing is eliminated in single mode fibers by guiding and so nonlinear optics can be beneficial rather than detrimental and used to broaden the gain bandwidth.  Single fiber laser amplifiers will not reach the highest intensities offered by solid state lasers, but in this talk, I will discuss developing fiber laser amplifiers for nonlinear optical interactions such as mid-infrared generation and laser acceleration of electrons that require high intensity and benefit from high average power.

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