Polarization-sensitive spectral interferometry

A method for analyzing a sample with a spectral interferometer comprising the steps of:

• directing light to the sample with at least one optical fiber of the interferometer including a polarization control element;
• reflecting the light from the sample;
• receiving the light with a receiver of the interferometer;
• determining the polarization properties of the light reflected from the sample with a computer coupled to the receiver;
• and
• identifying the tissue type of the sample by the polarization properties as function of depth from the depth-resolved birefringence of the sample by employing a multi-state nonlinear algorithm that uses M incident polarization states uniformly distributed on a great circle of the Poincare sphere and utilizing multiple incident polarization states to gives M distinct separation-angles (γm) distributed within the interval [0°, 90°].