New quantitative method for increasing information content in polarised light imaging of bone tissue

Abstract: In linearly polarised light (LPL), birefringent structures appear brightest if they lie both in the plane of the section and at 45° / 135° to the axes of the crossed polarising filter elements, but dark if perpendicular to the section plane or parallel to either polarizer or analyser, preventing measurement of the whole scene at once because nothing can be resolved in the dark sectors of the ‘Maltese cross’. This may be solved using circularly polarised light (CPL), when dip with respect to the section-plane may be quantified for plane parallel sections and we can use pseudocolour to produce dip maps....