A novel cross-polarized optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT) system based on standard isotropic single-mode fiber has been developed. We exploit the property of an arbitrary pair of orthogonal waves propagating in a single-mode fiber to maintain their orthogonality in the absence of anisotropy losses, regardless of the induced phase anisotropy. The well-known isotropic fiber based OCT scheme that commonly comprises an optical probe with a Fizeau interferometer and a compensating Michelson interferometer with Faraday mirrors is modified. We introduce an additional optical element to form the initial radiation as two mutually time-delayed and strictly orthogonal polarized waves. The suggested scheme allows reaching very low level of cross talk in co and cross-polarized images.
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