Spatio-temporal optical coherence imaging and tomography for

Significance: Strong scattering in biological tissues limits the achievable imaging depth and produces noiseboth coherent and incoherentthat impairs contrast in volumetric Aim: The primary aim of this work is to formalize and validate the theoretical foundations and practical implementations of STOC and its three-dimensional volumetric extension, spatio-temporal optical coherence tomography (STOC-T). Specifically, the study seeks to demonstrate their ability to enhance imaging performance in scattering media, benchmark against current optical coherence methods, and assess their readiness for clinical application. Approach: This work mainly reviews advances in spatio-temporal optical coherence imaging and tomography, and includes an original description of filtering multiply scattered signals derived from a generalized diffraction model, showing that application of STOC-T obeys the first Born approximation. Results: Spatio-temporal optical coherence Imaging and tomography markedly improved image fidelity in highly scattering media, demonstrated by enhanced fringe contrast and reduced incoherent background across phantoms and biological tissues. STOC-T achieved high-resolution, high-contrast Conclusions: Spatio-temporal optical coherence imaging and tomography enable high-contrast, deep volumetric imaging with improved resolution by combining phase modulation, spectral sweeping, and coherence control. Validated