Quantification of optical Doppler broadening and optical path lengths of multiply scattered light by phase modulated low coherence interferometry

We show experimental validation of a novel technique to measure optical path length distributions and path length resolved Doppler broadening in turbid media for different reduced scattering coefficients and anisotropies. The technique involves a phase modulated low coherence Mach-Zehnder interferometer, with separate fibers for illumination and detection. Water suspensions of Polystyrene microspheres with high scattering and low absorption levels are used as calibrated scattering phantoms. The path length dependent diffusion broadening or Doppler broadening of scattered light is shown to agree with Diffusive Wave Spectroscopy within 5%. The optical path lengths are determined experimentally from the zero order moment of the phase modulation peak around the modulation frequency in the power spectrum and the results are validated with Monte Carlo simulations. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.