Validate refractive-index matching for glass-phantom measurements

Determine whether measuring two-photon-lithography glass phantoms in a refractive-index-matching medium reduces edge artifacts and improves agreement between the reconstructed and expected diameter and inclination values.

Background

The Rayleigh–Gans-based reconstruction captures the general trends of fiber diameter and inclination in tilted glass phantoms, but deviations from the nominal values remain. The authors attribute these deviations partly to scattering at the glass–air interface, which is not suppressed in the phantom measurements, unlike in tissue measurements performed in a mounting medium.

The authors propose future phantom measurements in a refractive-index-matching medium to test whether suppressing interface-related scattering improves the accuracy of the reconstructed parameters. This remains unresolved in the reported study.

References

Future phantom measurements will therefore be performed in a refractive-index-matching medium to determine whether edge artifacts can be reduced and whether the agreement with the expected diameter and inclination values improves are therefore necessary.

— 3D scattered light imaging: extracting 3D fiber orientations from 1D line profiles in brain imaging  (2609.03764 - Scheidt et al., 3 Sep 2026) in Conclusion