Ptychography‐Inspired Diffuse Optical Imaging

ABSTRACT Optical imaging offers multiple advantages, including non‐invasive capabilities, absence of ionizing radiation, and high contrast for many biological tissues. However, optical imaging through substantially thick scattering media, such as biological tissues, fog, or various turbid environments, remains challenging because extensive photon diffusion significantly restricts reconstruction quality and resolution. Recent efforts combined spatial and temporal measurements to improve image reconstruction in transmission configuration. However, these methods rely on independent measurements, which are difficult to obtain through thick scattering media because diffused light patterns tend to be correlated. Inspired by the ptychography technique, our Ptychography‐inspired Diffuse Optical Imaging(PDOI) exploits additional spatial information from multiple overlapping and less‐correlated illumination patterns for diffuse optical imaging (DOI). Compared to existing DOI methods, PDOI achieves superior resolution (down to 1 mm) and reliably reconstructs both binary and grayscale 2D objects embedded within media thicker than 100 transport mean free paths. Importantly, PDOI demonstrates robust reconstruction performance both with accurately calibrated diffusion properties and even without prior calibration. Furthermore, the experimental setup remains straightforward, utilizing only a conventional camera and scanned illumination spots. Our demonstrations underscore the broad potential of PDOI in applications ranging from medical diagnostics to non‐destructive testing, enabling high‐resolution imaging in highly scattering environments.