Robust spectral-domain optical coherence tomography speckle model and its cross-correlation coefficient analysis

In this study, we propose a generic speckle simulation for optical coherence tomography (OCT) signal, by convolving the point-spread function (PSF) of the OCT system with the numerically synthesized random sample field. We validate our model and use the simulation method to study the statistical properties of cross-correlation coefficients between A-scans, which have been recently applied in transverse motion analysis by our group. The results of simulation show that oversampling is essential for accurate motion tracking; exponential decay of OCT signal leads to an underestimate of motion that can be corrected; lateral heterogeneity of sample leads to an overestimate of motion for a few pixels corresponding to the structural boundary.