Bilenca, A.Lasser, T.Ozcan, A.Leitgeb, R. A.Bouma, B. E.Tearney, G. J.2008-02-252008-02-252008-02-25200710.1364/OE.15.002810https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/19107WOS:000245076200007Recently, we have experimentally demonstrated a new form of cross-sectional, coherence-gated fluorescence imaging referred to as SD-FCT (‘spectral-domain fluorescence coherence tomography’). Imaging in SD-FCT is accomplished by spectrally detecting self-interference of the spontaneous emission of fluorophores, thereby providing depth-resolved information on the axial positions of fluorescent probes. Here, we present a theoretical investigation of the factors affecting the detected SD-FCT signal through scattering media. An imaging equation for SD- FCT is derived that includes the effects of defocusing, numerical-aperture, and the optical properties of the medium. A comparison between the optical sectioning capabilities of SD-FCT and confocal microscopy is also presented. Our results suggest that coherence gating in fluorescence imaging may provide an improved approach for depth-resolved imaging of fluorescently labeled samples; high axial resolution (a few microns) can be achieved with low numerical apertures (NA<0.09) while maintaining a large depth of field (a few hundreds of microns) in a relatively low scattering medium (6 mean free paths), whereas moderate NA’s can be used to enhance depth selectivity in more highly scattering biological samples.(030.1670) Coherence and statistical opticsCoherent optical effects(170.6960) Medical optics and biotechnologyTomography(260.2510) Physical opticsFluorescencetext::journal::journal article::research article