## 3 The Use of Supercontinuum Lasers in Biomedical Diffuse Optics
### Novel Instrument Development
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & & & & & & & \\ \multirow{2}{*}{**System ID**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Group**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Year**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**SC Laser Type/Model**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Spectral Capacity**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Power Repetition Rate (kHz)**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Pulse Width**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Detector**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**N\({}^{*}\) of Channels**} \\ \cline{6-10}  & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline
16 & Katholololake Universiteit Leuven, & 2012 & SC450-4 & 450-2400 nm & 4000 (total) & NA & NA & PNdiode & 1 \\  & Leuven, Belgium & & & & & & & & \\  & University College London, & 2014 & SC450, Famium & 690, 750, 800, 850 nm & 4.5 & 40,000 & 4 & PMT & 32 \\  & London, United Kingdom & & & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & & & \\  & & & &  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**System ID**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Group**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Year**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**SC Laser Type/Model**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**SC Laser System Characteristics**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**System Detection Characteristics**} \\ \cline{6-10}  & & & & **Type/Model** & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Spectral Capacity**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Power (mW)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Repetition Rate (kHz)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Pulse Width**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Detector**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**N\({}^{*}\) of Channels**} \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{30} & Institute of Discybernetics and & & & & & & & & \\  & Biomedical Engineering Polish & & & & & & & & & \\  & Acaderno of Sciences, & & & & & & & & \\  & Warsaw Poland & & & & & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & University of Pennsylvania, & & & & & & & & \\  & Philadelphia, United States & 2018 & & & & & & & \\  & Philadelphia, United States & 2019 & & & & & & & \\  & Bundesanstalt, Berlin, Germany & & & & & & & & \\  & University of Science and & & & & & & & & \\  & Technology, Tronching, Norway & & & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & & & \\  & University of California, Irvine, United States & 2019 & & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & & & \\  & University College London, & & & & & & & & \\  & London, United Kingdom & 2019 & & & & & & & \\  & Physikalisch-Technische & & & & & & & & \\  & Bundesanstalt, Berlin, Germany & & & & & & & & \\  & Institute of Biocybernetics and & & & & &  
Figure 2: Pictures and schematic of various instruments based on SCL as a source. (**a**) TD-NIRS instrument aimed at broadband characterization of tissues. Figure reproduced from [23]. (**b**) TD-NIRS instrument aimed at monitoring both oxygenation and metabolism functional changes. Figure reproduced from [24]. (**c**) Preclinical instrument aimed at monitoring the exposed brain cortex of rodents. (reproduced with permission from [25], Copyright IEEE, 2021). (**d**) DOT system based on a SPAD camera aimed at functional brain monitoring in neonates. Figure reproduced from [26,27]. Figure 3: Example of typical data extracted form system based on SCL as sources. (**a**) absorption and reduce scattering coefficient of several tissues acquired the TD-NIRS system developed in ref [23]. Figure reproduced from [23]. (**b**) 2D maps of the changes in optical properties of a phantom using MONSTIR II. (reproduced with permission from [28], Copyright AIP Publishing, 2021). (**c**) Changes in [HbO2] (red), [HHb] (blue) and [oxCCO](green), in the occipital lobe, acquired with the MAESTROS system [24], during a typical brain activation. Data presented at the fNIRS conference in Tokyo in 2018. (**d**) Raw image and reconstructed variation in [HbO2], [HHb], and [oxCCO] acquired on the exposed cortex during anoxia. (reproduced with permission from [25], Copyright IEEE, 2021). Parallel to these initial developments, a team based at Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) produced a system able to characterise tissue between 610 and 1050 nm [33].