Abstract
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a well established imaging modality for high-resolution three-dimensional imaging in clinical settings. While imaging, care must be taken to minimize the imaging artifacts related to the polarization differences between the sample and the reference signals. Current OCT systems adopt complicated mechanisms, such as the use of multiple detectors, polarization-maintaining fibers, polarization controllers to achieve polarization artifacts free sample images. Often the polarization controllers need readjustment which is not suitable for clinical settings. In this work, we demonstrate a simple approach that can minimize the polarization-related artifacts in the OCT systems. Polarization artifact-free images are acquired using two orthogonally polarized reference signals where the orthogonal polarization is achieved using a Faraday mirror. In the current approach, only a single detector is required which makes the current approach compatible with swept-source or camera-based OCT systems. Furthermore, no polarization controllers are used in the system which increases the system stability while minimizing the artifacts related to the sample birefringence, polarization change due to the sample scattering, and polarization change due to the optical fiber movements present in the system.
Highlights
PTICAL coherence tomography (OCT) [1] is a well-Oestablished tool for non-invasive, high-resolution, cross-sectional, three-dimensional imaging of biological samples
To check the performance of the polarization insensitive Optical coherence tomography (OCT) system, we measured the effect of the sample arm polarization change on the measured intensity of the axial point spread function (PSF)
We changed the polarization of the sample arm again in such a way that the polarization of the sample arm matched to the polarization of the signal from the Faraday mirror, and under this condition, it can be seen from Fig. 2(b) that the peak corresponding to the Faraday mirror is maximum and the peak corresponding the gold mirror is small
Summary
PTICAL coherence tomography (OCT) [1] is a well-Oestablished tool for non-invasive, high-resolution, cross-sectional, three-dimensional imaging of biological samples. The Fourier domain OCT systems overcame the limitation of the slow scan speed by either using a spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) approach where a broadband light source is used to image the sample indepth and the interfered signal is detected using a spectrometer, or by sweeping the wavelength of a laser and measuring the interference signal using photodetectors in swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) [9, 10] Both of these techniques are extensively used in clinical [11,12,13,14,15,16] and industrial applications [4, 17,18,19]. To minimize these polarization artifacts in Fourier domain OCT, several techniques such as polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT), cross-polarized OCT (CP-OCT), polarization diverse detection and optical switching have been proposed
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
