Frequency encoded assessment of retinal physiology

We demonstrate in-vivo functional imaging of the human retina with Fourier domain optical coherence tomography employing frequency encoding of an excitation pattern. The principle is based on projecting a modulated rectangular pattern across the foveal region and acquiring a time series of B-Scans at the same vertical position across the pattern. The idea is to modulate the excitation with a frequency that is distinct from the heartbeat and irregular motion artifacts. Fourier analysis of the time series at each transverse position in the B-scan series allows assessing the retinal response as change in the FDOCT reflectivity signal exactly at the pattern modulation frequency. We observe a change in retinal reflectivity within the region of the outer segment photoreceptor layer exactly at the pattern modulation frequency.