Optical Feedback Interferometry sensor for flow characterization inside ex-vivo vessel

Pressure myograph systems allow the study of pharmacological effects of drugs and other vasoactive compounds on small isolated vessels by image processing. In this work, we present a new pressure myograph system based on Optical Feedback Interferometry (OFI) sensor that gives information about local velocity in fluids and enables reconstruction of a velocity profile inside a vessel. OFI is a self-aligned interferometric technique that uses the laser as both the light source and the receiver thus offering high sensitivity, fast response, and a simple and compact optical design. The local Doppler flow velocity is directly measured inside ex-vivo rat vessel with a step of 100 μm thus avoiding the need to use complex image processing and models based profile calculation for extracting flow velocity. This technique will be useful to investigate hemodynamics in microcirculation by measuring unsteady irregular blood.