Full-field laser Doppler blood-flow imaging and monitoring using an intelligent CMOS camera and area illumination

An apparatus for parallel, full-field, laser Doppler perfusion imaging has been developed and applied for measurements of blood flow in human skin. This new imaging system allows obtaining 2D flow maps or to monitor flux signals from a plurality of separate predetermined points simultaneously with a 2D matrix of photodetectors. The uniform area illumination is achieved with a highly multimode optical fiber. The detection part of the system is based on an intelligent CMOS camera (iMVS-155) with a built-in digital signal processor. The imaging time of the system is 4 times quicker than for conventional scanning laser Doppler imager. The performance of the system was tested on artificial samples demonstrating linear response to the velocity up to 3 mm/sec. Also, the results of the measurements obtained with the new system on human skin are reported.