Optics based biomedical imaging: Principles and applications

Biomedical optical imaging is an important subdivision of optical imaging with the aim of understanding the anatomy and function of life. In principle, biomedical optical imaging systems form an image by manipulating the excitation light and detecting the signals originating from light and tissue interactions. Ever since the invention of the first optical microscope over 1000 years ago, biomedical optical imaging technologies have been steadily evolving to enable faster, deeper, and higher resolution imaging. These technologies have led to a more comprehensive understanding of life at the macro-, micro-, and nanoscales and have improved clinical diagnosis and treatment. This tutorial provides an overview of biomedical optical imaging techniques and their applications. Based on the imaging depth, this tutorial classifies the current optical imaging systems into two regimes: diffraction and diffusion. Within each regime, a few commonly used imaging techniques and their biological imaging applications are discussed. Finally, we provide an outlook of future biomedical optical imaging.