Finite-difference time-domain simulation for three-dimensional polarized light imaging

Conference paper (2016)

Authors

Miriam Menzel Forschungszentrum Jülich
Markus Axer Forschungszentrum Jülich
Hans De Raedt Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Kristel Michielsen Forschungszentrum Jülich
Affiliation
External organisation
Optics Birefringence Computer simulation Polarized Light Imaging Jones matrix calculus Finite-Difference Time-Domain algorithm Maxwell solver Nerve fiber architecture
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2016

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Affiliation

External organisation

Abstract

Three-dimensional Polarized Light Imaging (3D-PLI) is a promising technique to reconstruct the nerve fiber architecture of human post-mortem brains from birefringence measurements of histological brain sections with micrometer resolution. To better understand how the reconstructed fiber orientations are related to the underlying fiber structure, numerical simulations are employed. Here, we present two complementary simulation approaches that reproduce the entire 3D-PLI analysis: First, we give a short review on a simulation approach that uses the Jones matrix calculus to model the birefringent myelin sheaths. Afterwards, we introduce a more sophisticated simulation tool: a 3D Maxwell solver based on a Finite-Difference Time-Domain algorithm that simulates the propagation of the electromagnetic light wave through the brain tissue. We demonstrate that the Maxwell solver is a valuable tool to better understand the interaction of polarized light with brain tissue and to enhance the accuracy of the fiber orientations extracted by 3D-PLI.