Physical modeling, inverse scattering, & applications of Optical Coherence Tomography, Nonlinear Raman Microscopy, and Near-Field Microscopy

By approaching the design and implementation of optical instruments which jointly considers both the physical and signal processing aspects of engineering, improved performance and much greater flexibility can be achieved. A fully three-dimensional analysis of Optical Coherence Tomography has yielded an inverse scattering algorithm that helps guide the future design of OCT instrumentation. Using an analysis of the process of Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering by broadband ultrafast pulses, a novel method called Nonlinear Interferometric Vibrational Imaging is proposed and demonstrated that can interferometrically probe and capture the Raman spectrum of a sample. Finally, a new method of near-field imaging using diffractive elements placed in the near-field of an object can yield far superior noise performance by multiplexing measurements from the entire object's surface rather than scan one point at a time.
"dr. Marks is a visiting research scientist with the Biophotonics Group at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His main research interest is the design and implementation of optical sensing systems, encompassing both the physical apparatus and the mathematics of inference methods. This work includes the design and construction of novel instrumentation for achieving infinite depth-of-field imaging and microscopy, three-dimensional optical tomography, deconvolution of wavefront aberrations, noise and speckle reduction in coherent imaging, and ultrafast optics and coherent control. He graduated from UIUC in 1995 with a bachelor's degree, 1998 with a master's degree, and in 2001 with a doctoral degree."