Numerical speckle reduction for optical coherence tomography based on an analytical image formation model

Abstract

Speckle is an intrinsic granular pattern that limits the effective resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT). We propose a numerical speckle reduction method using the "real part of a shifted complex conjugate product" (real-SCCP), which is a new image representation designed based on an analytical imaging model of OCT. In the real-SCCP image representation, the speckle can be fully numerically modulated after OCT signal acquisition. By averaging multiple SCCP images with different speckle realizations, the speckle is effectively reduced. Furthermore, this method enables clear visualization of structures in tumor spheroids and zebrafish eyes, and significantly outperforms conventional frame-averaging-based speckle reduction techniques.