Optical coherence in all the right (and wrong) places: Using and designing coherence for biomedical imaging

The spatial and temporal coherence of optical fields are basic properties that have been successfully exploited in biomedical optics. I will discuss our use of optical coherence tomography, an imaging modality that exploits low temporal coherence, to explore microfluidic-scale pulmonary and cardiovascular physiology. I also will discuss our work in the targeted design of desirable spatial coherence properties enabled by random lasers and other novel light sources. This targeted design will enable new ways of studying microfluidic-scale physiology.