Contrast enhancement of spectral domain optical coherence tomography using spectrum correction

In this paper, we propose spectrum correction method to enhance image contrast of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The proposed method firstly reshapes the light source to a Hann-shape spectral light by digital processing and then strengthens the coherence numerical value in the main lobe of the axial point spread function(PSF). Experimental results acquired from fresh rat corneas and fixed human aortic atherosclerosis tissues show that the proposed method improves image definition and clarity, and consequently provides better detailed microstructural information than the existing method. This ability of improving image quality is obtained without any hardware change, making our method a cost-effective alternative to competing with hardware approaches.