Selection of the tagged photons by off axis heterodyne holography in ultrasound-modulated optical tomography

Ultrasound-modulated optical tomography (UOT) is a technique that images optical contrast deep inside scattering media. Heterodyne holography is a promising tool able to detect the UOT tagged photons with high efficiency. In this work, we describe theoretically the detection of the tagged photon in heterodyne holography based UOT, show how to filter the untagged photon, and discuss the effect of shot noise. The discussion considers also speckle decorrelation. We show that optimal detection sensitivity can be reached, if the frame exposure time of the camera used to perform the holographic detection is of the order of the decorrelation time.