Degradation in the degree of polarization in human retinal nerve fiber layer.

Using a fiber-based swept-source (SS) polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) system, we investigate the degree of polarization (DOP) of light backscattered from the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in normal human subjects. Algorithms for processing data were developed to analyze the deviation in phase retardation and intensity of backscattered light in directions parallel and perpendicular to the nerve fiber axis (fast and slow axes of RNFL). Considering superior, inferior, and nasal quadrants, we observe the strongest degradation in the DOP with increasing RNFL depth in the temporal quadrant. Retinal ganglion cell axons in normal human subjects are known to have the smallest diameter in the temporal quadrant, and the greater degradation observed in the DOP suggests that higher polarimetric noise may be associated with neural structure in the temporal RNFL. The association between depth degradation in the DOP and RNFL structural properties may broaden the utility of PS-OCT as a functional imaging technique.