Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) is an important
functional OCT. By extracting the polarization properties from PS-OCT signals we can
obtain more information about the structural and optical features of tissues or materials.
Dental caries is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases of people worldwide. The
primary caries detection and the structure transformation of the enamel and dentin
between sound and broken teeth are given serious attention by dentists. In this paper,
using our Fourier-domain polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography
(FD-PS-OCT) setup by three incident linear polarization states and two detection states,
we can get the 9 Mueller matrix elements from M11to M33 of the decay areas of the
artificial caries measured. We also applied our polarized sensitive Monte Carlo
program in the simulation of the PS-OCT detection process. We used a sphere-cylinder
scattering model as an approximation of anisotropic tissues to describe the optical
properties of tooth. By comparing the Mueller matrix elements of both experimental
and simulation results, especially the diagonal elements (M11, M22 and M33), we
reach the point that the main structural change of the caries that affects its scattering
features is the expanded diameter of the enamel rods and dentinal tubules caused by the
acid corrosion due to caries lesion.
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