NOVEL OPTICAL IMAGING SOLUTIONS FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOLOGICAL TISSUES AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF ACTUAL INTRAVASCULAR OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEMS

The main purpose of this thesis is to find novel solutions for the characterization of biological soft tissues by menas of optical imaging methods, with a focus on the imaging of cardiovascular system. This aim has been achieved through i) development, validation and first experimentation of a novel setup based on small angle light scattering technique (SALS) for the in-vitro characterization of the fibrous microstructure of biological tissues; ii) implementation of novel methods for the improvement of the performance of actual intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) systems in terms of light penetration through the blood and signal acquisition speed.