Linear OCT system with increased measurement depth for biomedical applications

摘要

Time domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) traditionally uses scanning optical delay lines with moving parts and a point detectors. OCT systems build with a linear detector array (linear OCT or L-OCT) are simple and robust, but a detector with approx. 10,000 elements is needed for an imaging depth of 2 millimeter, which is necessary for most biomedical applications. We present a new optical setup for L-OCT with increased measurement range. An additional grating performs a reduction of the spatial frequencies of the fringe pattern on the detector without loss of SNR, so the signal can be sampled with a minimal number of pixels. The theory for this approach is addressed and first measurements are presented.