High speed miniature motorized endoscopic probe for 3D optical frequency domain imaging

Abstract

We present a miniature motorized endoscopic probe for Optical Frequency Domain Imaging with an outer diameter of 1.65 mm and a rotation speed of 3,000 – 12,500 rpm. This is the smallest motorized high speed OCT probe to our knowledge. The probe has a motorized distal end which provides a significant advantage over proximally driven probes since it does not require a drive shaft to transfer the rotational torque to the distal end of the probe and functions without a fiber rotary junction. The probe has a focal Full Width at Half Maximum of 9.6 μm and a working distance of 0.47 mm. We analyzed the non-uniform rotation distortion and found a location fluctuation of only 1.87° in repeated measurements of the same object. The probe was integrated in a high-speed Optical Frequency Domain Imaging setup at 1310 nm We demonstrated its performance with imaging ex vivo pig bronchial and in vivo goat lung.