An OCT system incorporating a coherent fibre imaging bundle is described. Fibresare accessed sequentially by a beam focused onto the input face of the bundle,allowing 2D or 3D images to be acquired using point detection. A Fizeauinterferometer configuration is used, in which light from the distal end of afibre in the bundle (forming the reference arm) mixes with light reflected bythe sample itself (forming the sample arm). The use of coherent imaging bundlesfor OCT beam delivery allows mechanical scanning parts to be removed from thesample arm, resulting in a passive probe. Such a configuration can form acompact, robust and "downlead insensitive" OCT system. In the common-pathconfiguration used, an inherent path-length difference is present in the Fizeausample interferometer, so an additional processing interferometer is required toensure path-length matching. The depth scanning mechanism is confined within theprocessing interferometer, external to the sample probe.
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