Citation:
G. F. Sarantavgas, H. D. Ford and R. P. Tatam. Optical coherence tomography, Fibre bundle, Fizeau interferometer, Biomedical imaging, Low-coherence interferometry, Common-path OCTCoherence Domain Optical Methods and Optical Coherence Tomography in Biomedicine XII,
edited by Joseph A. Izatt, James G. Fujimoto, Valery V. Tuchin, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6847, 68470C, March 2008
Abstract:
An OCT system incorporating a coherent fibre imaging bundle is described. Fibres
are 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 Fizeau
interferometer configuration is used, in which light from the distal end of a
fibre in the bundle (forming the reference arm) mixes with light reflected by
the sample itself (forming the sample arm). The use of coherent imaging bundles
for OCT beam delivery allows mechanical scanning parts to be removed from the
sample arm, resulting in a passive probe. Such a configuration can form a
compact, robust and "downlead insensitive" OCT system. In the common-path
configuration used, an inherent path-length difference is present in the Fizeau
sample interferometer, so an additional processing interferometer is required to
ensure path-length matching. The depth scanning mechanism is confined within the
processing interferometer, external to the sample probe.
