Design of endoscopic optical coherence tomography system

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT), which bases on the principle of low-coherence interferometry, is an emerging cross-sectional imaging technology. With ultrahigh resolution, OCT is sensitive enough to detect early-stage tissue abnormalities associated with diseases such as early carcinoma. To detect pathologic change in gastrointestinal tract, we combine OCT with endoscopic technique. Later we call this technique as endoscopic optical coherence tomography (EOCT). Compared with time-domain OCT imaging technique, spectral OCT eliminates depth scan in the reference arm so increases the imaging speed. Basing on spectral OCT, EOCT can realize real-time imaging. The EOCT unit is comprised of an endoscopically compatible radially scanning probe as the sample arm. In this paper the principle of spectral OCT is introduced and the crucial parameters of experimental system are discussed. Also the design of a novel probe is presented. In our experiment, a mirror is used as a sample to test the validity of this method.