Noninvasive monitoring of glucose concentration using differential absorption low-coherence interferometry based on rapid scanning optical delay line

A non-invasive method of detecting glucose concentration using differential absorption low-coherence interferometry (DALCI) based on rapid scanning optical delay line is presented. Two light sources, one centered within (1625 nm) a glucose absorption band, while the other outside (1310 nm) the glucose absorption band, are used in the experiment. The low-coherence interferometry (LCI) is employed to obtain the signals back-reflecting from the iris which carries the messages of material concentration in anterior chamber. Using rapid scanning optical delay line (RSOD) as the reference arm, we can detect the signals in a very short time. Therefore the glucose concentration can be monitored in real-time, which is very important for the detection in vivo. In our experiments, the cornea and aqueous humor can be treated as nearly non-scattering substance. The difference in the absorption coefficient is much larger than the difference in the scattering coefficient, so the influence of scattering can be neglected. By subtracting the algorithmic low-coherence interference signals of the two wavelengths, the absorption coefficient can be calculated which is proportional to glucose concentration. To reduce the speckle noise, a 30 variation of signals were used before the final calculation of the glucose concentration. The improvements of our experiment are also discussed in the article. The method has a potential application for noninvasive detection of glucose concentration in vivo and in real-time.