NOISE 2 imaging system: seeing through scattering tissue with a reference point

We propose a f ly-eye-like imaging system for seeing objects embedded in scattering media. Objects are recovered from many speckled images observed by a digital camera through a microlens array. Each microlens in the array generates a speckle image of the object buried between two layers of chicken breast tissue. In the computer each image is Fourier transformed jointly with an image of the speckled pointlike source captured under the same conditions. A set of the squared magnitudes of the Fourier-transformed pictures is accumulated to form a single average picture. This final picture is again Fourier transformed, resulting in the reconstruction of the hidden object. © 2004 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 030.6140, 030.6600, 170.1650, 170.3010, 170.3880. During the past decade, optical imaging through scattering media has proved to be an effective medical diagnostic because it is safe, noninvasive, and lower in cost than conventional radiation techniques. Many optical techniques for imaging through diffusing tissues have been proposed, 1 despite the strong attenuation and scattering of light caused by tissue constituents