LAUSR

Realistic simulation of image formation in optical coherence tomography, based on Maxwell’s equations, has recently been demonstrated for sample volumes of practical significance. Yet, there remains a limitation whereby reducing the size of cells used to construct a computational grid, thus allowing for a more realistic representation of scatterer microstructure, necessarily reduces the overall sample size that can be modelled. This is a significant problem since, as is well known, the microstructure of a scatterer significantly influences its scattering properties. Here we demonstrate that an optimized scatterer design can overcome this problem resulting in good agreement between simulated and experimental images for a structured phantom. This approach to OCT image simulation allows for image formation for biological tissues to be simulated with unprecedented realism.