Event related optical signal neuroimaging and analysis system for monitoring activity of a subject's brain

A method for monitoring a subject's brain, the method comprising:

• using a first light source to provide wavelength-swept emission of light and to deliver said wavelength-swept light towards the subject's brain tissue;
• and
• using a plurality of detectors to detect light scattered back from the subject's brain tissue at a plurality of different locations;
• wherein the first light source is operated to deliver some of the wavelength-swept light it provides to each of the plurality of detectors as reference light via one or more reference channels;
• wherein each of the detectors is operated to combine the reference light received from the first light source via the reference channel with the scattered light received from the subject's brain tissue to provide a combined light signal comprising a component at a beat frequency for the scattered and reference light;
• and
• wherein the method comprises providing an indication of effects in the subject's brain tissue based on changes in a distribution of a plurality of components at different beat frequencies of the combined light signal.

A tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer program instructions configured to, when executed, cause a controller to perform a method for monitoring a subject's brain, the method comprising:

• using a first light source to provide wavelength-swept emission of light and to deliver said wavelength-swept light towards the subject's brain tissue;
• and
• using a plurality of detectors to detect light scattered back from the subject's brain tissue at a plurality of different locations;
• wherein the first light source is operated to deliver some of the wavelength-swept light it provides to each of the plurality of detectors as reference light via one or more reference channels;
• wherein each of the detectors is operated to combine the reference light received from the first light source via the reference channel with the scattered light received from the subject's brain tissue to provide a combined light signal comprising a component at a beat frequency for the scattered and reference light;
• and
• wherein the method comprises providing an indication of effects in the subject's brain tissue based on changes in a distribution of a plurality of components at different beat frequencies of the combined light signal.