Table 1.

Comparison of imaging systems techniques

Continuous wave	Time domain (TH)	Frequency domain (FD)
Faster than TD and FD	Quantitative	Quantitative
Accurate for differential measurement of optical properties	High spatial and depth resolution	High spatial and depth resolution
Relatively compact	Recovery of absorption, fluorescence, and scattering properties from temporal impulse response	Faster than TD
	More accurate than FD but slower	Relatively less expensive than TD
Less expensive than TD and FD		Recovery of absorption, fluorescence, and scattering properties from diffusive wave
	Can be utilized for photoacoustic methods	phase and amplitude
		Faster than TD but less accurate