Systems and methods that use interference signal from a sample tissue (e.g. retina) obtained in a self-referenced manner to obtain one or more characteristics about the sample tissue, such as thickness and intensity information, are discussed in the present disclosure. One example method of analyzing the sample tissue using an interferometry system includes illuminating the sample tissue with a beam of light using a spectrally broadband source. Scattered light signal is collected from the sample tissue at a detector. The signal results from optical interference between light scattered from multiple scatterers located at different depths in the tissue. The light signal is dominated by light scattered from a scatterer located within the bulk of the tissue. One or more characteristics of the sample tissue are determined based on the collected signal.
