High signal-to-noise ratio light spectroscopy of tissue

1. A diagnostic system comprising:

a light source configured to generate an output optical beam, comprising:

one or more semiconductor sources configured to generate an input beam;

one or more optical amplifiers configured to receive at least a portion of the input beam and to deliver an intermediate beam to an output end of the one or more optical amplifiers;

one or more optical fibers configured to receive at least a portion of the intermediate beam and to deliver at least the portion of the intermediate beam to a distal end of the one or more optical fibers to form a first optical beam;

a nonlinear element configured to receive at least a portion of the first optical beam and to broaden a spectrum associated with the at least a portion of the first optical beam to at least 10 nanometers through a nonlinear effect in the nonlinear element to form the output optical beam with an output beam broadened spectrum; and

wherein at least a portion of the output beam broadened spectrum comprises a near-infrared wavelength between 600 nanometers and 1000 nanometers;

and

an interface device configured to receive a received portion of the output optical beam and configured to deliver a delivered portion of the output optical beam to a tissue sample, wherein the interface device comprises a cap with one or more fiber leads configured to couple to at least one of the light source and a receiver, the receiver comprising one or more detectors;

wherein the receiver is configured to receive at least a portion of a diffuse spectroscopy output beam that results from light diffusion of the delivered portion of the output optical beam into a top two (2) millimeters or more of the tissue sample and configured to process the portion of the spectroscopy output beam to generate an output signal that monitors absorption or scattering features of the tissue sample;

wherein the tissue sample comprises at least in part brain tissue, and the output signal provides information related to oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin, or related to metabolism.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the light source is pulsed, and the receiver is further configured to perform time-gated detection and is configured to be synchronized with one or more pulses from the light source.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is configured to:

generate a first signal responsive to light received while the light source is off; and

generate a second signal responsive to light received while the light source is on;

and wherein the diagnostic system is configured to improve a signal-to-noise ratio of the diffuse spectroscopy output beam by differencing the first signal and the second signal.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the output optical beam is modulated at a modulation frequency, and wherein the receiver is configured to use a lock-in technique that detects at least one signal with a frequency around the modulation frequency.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the interface device further comprises a monochromator configured to receive at least a portion of the received portion of the output optical beam and to form a filtered optical beam at least a portion of which forms the delivered portion of the output optical beam.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the interface device is further configured to separate the filtered optical beam into a reference arm and a sample arm, wherein at least a portion of the sample arm forms the delivered portion of the output optical beam, and the reference arm is configured to be coupled to the receiver, and wherein the receiver is further configured to use the reference arm to at least partially cancel out effects from fluctuations in the light source.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the monochromator is a dispersive spectrometer or a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer.

8. A diagnostic system comprising:

a light source configured to generate an output optical beam, comprising:

one or more semiconductor sources configured to generate an input beam;

one or more optical amplifiers configured to receive at least a portion of the input beam and to deliver an intermediate beam to an output end of the one or more optical amplifiers;

one or more optical fibers configured to receive at least a portion of the intermediate beam and to deliver at least the portion of the intermediate beam to a distal end of the one or more optical fibers to form a first optical beam;

a nonlinear element configured to receive at least a portion of the first optical beam and to broaden a spectrum associated with the at least a portion of the first optical beam to at least 10 nanometers through a nonlinear effect in the nonlinear element to form the output optical beam with an output beam broadened spectrum;

wherein at least a portion of the output beam broadened spectrum comprises a near-infrared wavelength between 600 nanometers and 1000 nanometers; and

wherein the output optical beam is modulated at a modulation frequency;

an interface device configured to receive a received portion of the output optical beam and configured to deliver a delivered portion of the output optical beam to a tissue sample, wherein the interface device comprises a monochromator configured to receive at least a portion of the received portion of the output optical beam and to form a filtered optical beam as the delivered portion of the output optical beam; and

a receiver configured to receive at least a portion of a diffuse spectroscopy output beam from the tissue sample that results from light diffusion of the delivered portion of the output optical beam into a top two (2) millimeters or more of the tissue sample, wherein the receiver is configured to process the portion of the spectroscopy output beam to generate an output signal that monitors absorption or scattering features of the tissue sample, wherein the receiver is configured to use a lock-in technique that detects at least one signal with a frequency around the modulation frequency.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the light source is pulsed, and the receiver is further configured to perform time-gated detection, and to be synchronized with one or more pulses from the light source.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the receiver is configured to:

generate a first signal in response to light received while the light source is off; and

generate a second signal in response to light received while the light source is on;

and wherein the diagnostic system is configured to improve a signal-to-noise ratio of the diffuse spectroscopy output beam by differencing the first signal and the second signal.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the interface device is further configured to separate the filtered optical beam into a reference arm and a sample arm, wherein at least a portion of the sample arm forms the delivered portion of the output optical beam, and wherein the reference arm is configured to be coupled to the receiver, and wherein the receiver is further configured to use the reference arm to at least partially cancel out effects from fluctuations in the light source.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the monochromator is a dispersive spectrometer or a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the interface device further comprises a cap with one or more fiber leads configured to couple to at least one of the light source and to the receiver wherein the receiver comprises one or more detectors, and wherein the tissue sample comprises at least in part brain tissue, and wherein the output signal provides information related to oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin or related to metabolism.

14. A diagnostic system comprising:

a light source configured to generate an output optical beam, comprising:

one or more semiconductor sources configured to generate an input beam;

one or more optical amplifiers configured to receive at least a portion of the input beam and to deliver an intermediate beam to an output end of the one or more optical amplifiers;

one or more optical fibers configured to receive at least a portion of the intermediate beam and to deliver at least the portion of the intermediate beam to a distal end of the one or more optical fibers to form a first optical beam;

a nonlinear element configured to receive at least a portion of the first optical beam and to broaden a spectrum associated with the at least a portion of the first optical beam to at least 10 nanometers through a nonlinear effect in the nonlinear element to form the output optical beam with an output beam broadened spectrum;

wherein at least a portion of the output beam broadened spectrum comprises a near-infrared wavelength between 600 nanometers and 1000 nanometers; and

wherein the output optical beam is modulated at a modulation frequency;

an interface device configured to receive a received portion of the output optical beam and configured to deliver a delivered portion of the output optical beam to a tissue sample; and

a receiver configured to receive at least a portion of a diffuse spectroscopy output beam that results from light diffusion of the delivered portion of the output optical beam into a top two (2) millimeters or more of the tissue sample, and configured to process the portion of the spectroscopy output beam to generate an output signal that monitors absorption or scattering by the tissue sample, wherein the receiver is configured to use a lock-in technique that detects at least one signal with a frequency around the modulation frequency, and wherein the receiver is configured to:

generate a first signal in response to light received while the light source is off; and

generate a second signal in response to light received while the light source is on;

wherein the diagnostic system is configured to improve a signal-to-noise ratio of the diffuse spectroscopy output beam by differencing the first signal and the second signal.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the light source is pulsed, and the receiver is further configured to perform time-gated detection and to be synchronized with one or more pulses from the light source.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the interface device further comprises a monochromator configured to receive at least a portion of the received portion of the output optical beam and to form a filtered optical beam at least a portion of which forms the delivered portion of the output optical beam.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the interface device is further configured to separate the filtered optical beam into a reference arm and a sample arm, wherein at least a portion of the sample arm forms the delivered portion of the output optical beam, and wherein the reference arm is configured to be coupled to the receiver, and wherein the receiver is further configured to use the reference arm to at least partially cancel out effects from fluctuations in the light source.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the monochromator is a dispersive spectrometer or a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the interface device further comprises a cap with one or more fiber leads configured to couple to at least one of the light source and the receiver, wherein the receiver comprises one or more detectors.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the tissue sample comprises at least in part brain tissue, and the output signal provides information related to oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin, or related to metabolism.