Overview research

Our main competence is the development and application of optical imaging modalities, especially optical coherence tomography (OCT), spectroscopy and thermography.

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Our fields of research

Optical Coherence Tomography

Optical coherence tomography is a non-invasive, contactless imaging modality in scattering media up to depth of about 1 mm with a resolution of between 1 and 15 µm.

Spectroscopy and multimodal imaging

Optical molecular spectroscopy is still the method with the highest information content on molecular structures. The two most important methods are Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy.

Thermography

By using thermal imaging systems with appropriate optical lenses and detectors, thermal radiation of an object and its temporal change can be made visible.

Our research expertise

Our main competence is the development and application of optical imaging modalities, especially optical coherence tomography, spectroscopy and thermography.

OCT is a non-invasive, contactless 3D imaging modality based on the interference of short-coherent near-infrared light, which displays the structures of scattering materials and tissues up to a depth of about 1 mm (~ 1 - 10 µm) in high resolution. The main application fields of OCT are biomedical research and clinical practice as well as non-destructive material testing.

Our self-developed and built up OCT systems are all based on Fourier Domain OCT (FD OCT). First, the interference signal is spectrally analyzed and then the depth information is gained from the overall interference spectrum. We continuously enhance our OCT systems to improve especially the resolution and penetration depth into the medium of interest and to increase the image acquisition speed. In cooperation with other departments of the Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, different scanning units are developed and tested in clinical studies.

Our second main reaserach field is spectroscopy. Here, especially Fourier-Transform-Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman-Spectroscopy are used in clinical studies to distinguish between normal and pathological tissue.