Polarimetric glucose sensing is a promising method for noninvasive estimation of blood glucose concentration. Published methods of polarimetric glucose sensing generally rely on measuring the rotation of light as it traverses the aqueous humor of the eye. In this article, an interferometer is described that can detect polarization changes due to glucose without the use of polarization control or polarization analyzing elements. Without polarizers, this system is sensitive to optical activity, inherent to glucose, but minimally sensitive to linear retardance, inherent to the cornea. The underlying principle of the system was experimentally verified using spectral domain optical coherence tomography. A detection scheme involving amplitude modulation was simulated, demonstrating sensitivity to clinically relevant glucose concentrations and an acceptable error due to time varying linear birefringence of the cornea using Clarke Error Grid Analysis.

Date Published: 25 February 2010
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7572, Optical Diagnostics and Sensing X: Toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics, 757204 (25 February 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.842482

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7572:
Optical Diagnostics and Sensing X: Toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Gerard L. Coté, Editor(s)