Theoretical analysis of performance limitation of computational refocusing in optical coherence tomography

Abstract: High-numerical-aperture optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables sub-cellular imaging but faces a trade-off between lateral resolution and depth of focus. Computational refocusing can correct defocus in Fourier-domain OCT, yet its limitations remain unaddressed theoretically. We model the pupil-based lateral imaging process to analyze defocus and the constraints of computational refocusing in point-scanning OCT and spatially-coherent full-field OCT (FFOCT). The maximum correctable defocus (MCD) is primarily limited by confocality in point-scanning OCT, while spatially-coherent FFOCT has no such constraint, achieving virtually infinite MCD. This makes spatially-coherent FFOCT particularly suitable for optical coherence microscopy.