Interfacing systems, devices, and methods for optical imaging

An interfacing device for optical tomographic imaging of breast tissue, the device comprising:

• a plurality of annular members concentrically arranged in a stacked configuration along an axial direction,
• each of the annular members having a minimum inner diameter that is different from that of the other annular members,
• the annular members being arranged such that the inner diameters increase from a first axial end of the stack to an opposite second axial end of the stack,
• each of the annular members including a plurality of optical input apertures and optical output apertures arranged on an inner surface thereof,
• the stack forming an inner region bounded by the inner surfaces of the annular members for receiving the breast tissue for imaging,
• wherein the annular members are constructed to be translated with respect to each other along the axial direction so as to adjust the spacing between adjacent annular members in said stack.

A system for optical tomographic imaging of breast tissue, the system comprising:

• a translating ring interface including a plurality of annular members concentrically arranged in a stacked configuration along an axial direction, the annular members being arranged with inner diameters that increase from a first axial end of the stack to an opposite axial end of the stack, each of the annular members including a plurality of optical input apertures and optical output apertures arranged on an inner surface thereof, the interface having an inner region bounded by the inner surfaces of the annular members for receiving the breast tissue during imaging;
• a plurality of substantially monochromatic illumination sources;
• a plurality of first optical fibers connecting the plurality of illumination sources to the optical input apertures;
• a plurality of detectors;
• a plurality of second optical fibers connecting the plurality of detectors to the optical output apertures;
• and
• a processor configured to control the illumination sources to illuminate the breast tissue with light via one of the first optical fibers and to control the detectors to detect light from the breast tissue via the second optical fibers,
• wherein the processor is configured to modulate the amplitude of light from the illumination sources during illumination and to demodulate the detected light to generate detected light signals.