Optical properties of tissue measured using terahertz pulsed imaging
Abstract
The first demonstrations of terahertz imaging in biomedicine were made several years ago, but few data are available on the optical properties of human tissue at terahertz frequencies. A catalogue of these properties has been established to estimate variability and determine the practicality of proposed medical applications in terms of penetration depth, image contrast and reflection at boundaries. A pulsed terahertz imaging system with a useful bandwidth 0.5-2.5 THz was used. Local ethical committee approval was obtained. Transmission measurements were made through tissue slices of thickness 0.08 to 1 mm, including tooth enamel and dentine, cortical bone, skin, adipose tissue and striated muscle. The mean and standard deviation for refractive index and linear attenuation coefficient, both broadband and as a function of frequency, were calculated. The measurements were used in simple models of the transmission, reflection and propagation of terahertz radiation in potential medical applications. Refractive indices ranged from 1.5 ± 0.5 for adipose tissue to 3.06 ± 0.09 for tooth enamel. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found between the broadband refractive indices of a number of tissues. Terahertz radiation is strongly absorbed in tissue so reflection imaging, which has lower penetration requirements than transmission, shows promise for dental or dermatological applications.
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Sorted by citations
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- Authors
- Berry, E., Fitzgerald, A. J., Zinov'ev, N. N., Walker, G. C., Homer-Vanniasinkam, S., Sudworth, C. D., Miles, R. E., Chamberlain, J. M., & Smith, M. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Venue
- SPIE Proceedings
- Publisher
- SPIE
- Published
- 2003-06-09
- Volume
- 5030
- Pages
- 459
- ISSN
- 0277-786X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2054586404
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 6 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 3.89
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE (publishedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- SHURA (Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive) (Sheffield Hallam University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Terahertz technology and applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Optical Coherence Tomography Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques
- Keywords
- terahertz imaging, tissue optical properties, refractive index, linear attenuation coefficient, terahertz absorption, dental enamel, dentin, cortical bone, skin, adipose tissue, striated muscle, penetration depth, reflection imaging, dental imaging, skin imaging
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