Experimental exploration of longitudinal modes in spherical shells at 220 GHz – 330 GHz: applications to corneal sensing

Abstract

Submillimeter-wave and THz sensing of cornea leverage the layered tissue structure for assessments of corneal water content and thickness. The cornea is bounded by air on the anterior and an optically thick body of water on the posterior and thus presents as a lossy thin film lying atop a lossy termination. Resolution of the cornea’s lossy longitudinal modes via frequency domain reflectometry in a band sufficiently low (e.g. 220 GHz – 330 GHz) for significant penetration allows simultaneous estimates of corneal tissue water content (CTWC) and central corneal thickness (CCT). However, since the cornea is spherical, efficient coupling to longitudinal modes requires normal incidence across the interrogated area and thus a converging spherical phase front whose curvature matches the corneal surface curvature [1, 2].