Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography: a review of classical and quantum perspectives

Quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) has inherent advantages of high resolution and dispersion cancellation due to the nonclassical nature of entangled two-photon source used in the system. In this review, we discuss the basic operation of a time-domain polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) and a similar PS-QOCT system based on the Jones vector and Jones matrix formalism. We also discuss Stokes and Mueller matrix imaging in the context of PS-OCT systems to construct depth-resolved cross-sectional polarization-sensitive images. Experimental development of PS-QOCT is comparatively recent. It is poised to offer a new tool for polarization-sensitive quantum imaging.