Abstract
In this work the theory of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) signal after sampling, in dispersive media, with noise, and for a turbid medium is presented. The analytical theory is demonstrated with a one-dimensional numerical OCT model for (single) reflectors, dispersive media, and turbid media. For dispersive media the deterioration of the OCT axial resolution is quantified analytically and numerically. The OCT signal to noise ratio (SNR) is analyzed in the Fourier-domain and simulated with the numerical model. For an SNR based on the OCT intensity the conventional shot noise limited SNR is derived whereas for an SNR based on the OCT amplitude a 6.7 dB higher SNR is demonstrated. The OCT phase stability is derived in the Fourier-domain as 2SNR−1 and is validated using the numerical OCT model. The OCT single scattering model is simulated with the one-dimensional numerical model and applied to the simulation of an OCT image of a two-layered sample.
Highlights
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical imaging technique that is rapidly progressing into various application fields
Fourierdomain OCT systems are based on a measurement of the interference spectrum either in space on a spectrometer, this is called spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT), or in time during the wavelength sweep of a rapidly tunable laser source, this is called swept-source OCT (SS-OCT)
The height of the OCT signal is proportional to the square of the source power, proportional to the backscattering from the sample given by μb, and inversely proportional to the square of the coherence length
Summary
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical imaging technique that is rapidly progressing into various application fields. Individual depth scans can be acquired at multimegahertz rates For both time-domain OCT and Fourier-domain OCT, in-depth knowledge of signal analysis and processing is of paramount importance for obtaining high quality images. Numerical simulations are an ideal tool to study the OCT signal as all Fourier-domain OCT processing steps are performed in the digital domain. In this study I give an overview of analytical theory of the OCT signal in Section 2 that is followed by Section 3 in which the theoretical results are demonstrated with numerical simulation based on a discrete OCT signal model. The OCT signal in the single scattering approximation is described for a turbid medium
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