Acousto-optic monitoring and imaging in a depth sensitive manner

A system for medical monitoring or imaging of a patient or animal, comprising:

• an optical interferometer having a measurement arm, a reference arm, and an optical splitter, the measurement arm having an optical probe, the arms being coupled to receive light from the optical splitter and configured to cause light outputted by the arms to interfere;
• an interference detector coupled to receive a portion of the interfering light and configured to determine information representative of a location, an orientation, or a velocity of a portion of the patient or animal from the received light;
• a diagnostic probe;
• and
• a controller coupled to receive the information and to adjust data collection by the diagnostic probe on the animal or patient in a manner responsive to a change in a relative location, orientation, or velocity between the optical probe and the portion of the animal or patient.