Optics & Photonics

Optics in Medicine

Since ancient times, Optics being used as an aid for the examination of patients and in some beneficial treatments. Many of the optic medical instruments in use today raised to developed in the nineteenth century and, with the advent of optical fibers and laser sources in the mid-twentieth century, a new generation of medical devices, instruments, and techniques have been developed that have helped modernize medicine and perform task unimaginable only a few decades ago. This chapter illustrates—through several optical instrument and application examples—the uses, benefits, and future prospects that optics brings as an enabling technology to the medicine and the overall healthcare industry.

• Optometry
• Clinical technologies and systems
• Biomedical spectroscopy
• Artificial vision and colour
• Tissue optics
• Optical coherence tomography
• Biomedical optics
• Optoacoustic imaging of biological tissues