Abstract
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is a functional extension of conventional OCT and can assess depth-resolved tissue birefringence in addition to intensity. Most existing PS-OCT systems are relatively complex and their clinical translation remains difficult. We present a simple and robust all-fiber PS-OCT system based on swept source technology and polarization depth-encoding. Polarization multiplexing was achieved using a polarization maintaining fiber. Polarization sensitive signals were detected using fiber based polarization beam splitters and polarization controllers were used to remove the polarization ambiguity. A simplified post-processing algorithm was proposed for speckle noise reduction relaxing the demand for phase stability. We demonstrated systems design for both ophthalmic and catheter-based PS-OCT. For ophthalmic imaging, we used an optical clock frequency doubling method to extend the imaging range of a commercially available short cavity light source to improve polarization depth-encoding. For catheter based imaging, we demonstrated 200 kHz PS-OCT imaging using a MEMS-tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and a high speed micromotor imaging catheter. The system was demonstrated in human retina, finger and lip imaging, as well as ex vivo swine esophagus and cardiovascular imaging. The all-fiber PS-OCT is easier to implement and maintain compared to previous PS-OCT systems and can be more easily translated to clinical applications due to its robust design.
Highlights
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) [1] is a well-established imaging modality for diagnosis of ocular disease
We present a simple, compact and robust swept source Polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) system that is suitable for clinical translation
For catheter-based OCT, we demonstrated PS-OCT imaging with a MEMS-tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) [50,51,52] and a high speed micromotor probe [53] in human finger and lip, as well as ex vivo swine esophagus and arteries
Summary
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) [1] is a well-established imaging modality for diagnosis of ocular disease. In addition to ophthalmic OCT, catheter-based OCT [2], using fiber-optic probes, is rapidly becoming a useful tool in cardiovascular imaging for diagnosis of coronary artery disease [3, 4] and in endoscopic imaging for assessment of gastrointestinal pathology [2, 5, 6]. Conventional OCT generates intensity images and has limited capability to directly differentiate tissue types. Polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) [7] is a functional extension of OCT and can assess the depth-resolved polarization properties of light to provide additional tissue contrast. Alteration of tissue birefringence is often associated with disease progression. PS-OCT has found many applications, including anterior [10,11,12,13] and posterior eye imaging [13,14,15,16], skin imaging [17,18,19,20], burn depth and thermal damage assessment [21,22,23,24], dental imaging [25, 26] and atherosclerotic plaque characterization [27,28,29]
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