Time-resolved optical imaging through turbid media using a fast data acquisition system based on a gated CCD camera

In this paper, we propose a novel approach for the acquisition of time-resolved data for optical tomography. A fast gated CCD has been used as a parallel detector to acquire in one shot the light intensity exiting a phantom within a very short time slice. By using a pulsed illumination and repeating the acquisition at different delays, the time behaviour of the diffused transmittance can be recorded very quickly. Scattering inclusions embedded in a 5 cm thick phantom have been revealed by fitting a set of 120 images, delayed 50 ps from one another, with a mathematical model based on the random walk theory. Moreover, absorption inclusions have been detected in time-gated images taken at suitable delays.