Labview based control software for combined confocal Mueller Matrix and nonlinear Microscope.

The optical system implemented within the MPL (Medical Photonic Lab), at the Florida International University, combines Mueller Matrix digital confocal imaging, Mueller Matrix Reflectance Microscopy and Nonlinear Microscopy to better understand the interaction of polarized light with anisotropic structures in biological tissues. The objective is to observe how the Mueller matrix evolves compared to the total reflectance image. Using well known non-linear signals, such as Second Harmonic Generation, as gold standard for validating the results. As part of my job there, I've been assigned the task to create a control software for system. The main goal was to obtain a user interface that allows to set the parameter for the measurement, and easily acquire the data. Furthermore, to speed up the process, as in fact the acquisition of both total and confocal images turns out to be extremely time-consuming. This paper reviews the basic aspects of the system, including the theoretical models used to process the data, going then through the building blocks of the realized software and the testing done. Enlightening the most critical aspects such as timing and synchronization of all units during the acquisition. Ultimately showing some of the obtained results, as confirmation to the outcome.