Abstract
Current methodologies for obtaining depth-sensitive contrast information from an optically diffusive medium involve complex hardware and software implementations. In turn, such methods typically lead to long acquisition and long reconstruction times, rendering them impractical for real-time use. In this work, we report preliminary proof-of-concept for a hardware-only method capable of providing depth sensitive contrast information without requiring post acquisition image reconstruction and with rapid acquisition. This method, termed Masked Detection of Structured Illumination (MDSI), relies on physically masking, in the detection arm, the point spread function from a collimated beam illuminating a diffusive medium, to isolate the contribution of the photon path lengths of interest. By continuously scanning and integrating the obtained images, MDSI allows, for the first time, optical depth sectioning of a diffusive medium without any processing.
