Spectral-domain, polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography system insensitive to fiber disturbances

Abstract

This communication presents a spectral-domain, polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) system based on a fiber interferometer using single-mode fibers and couplers. The two orthogonal polarization components which define the polarization state are sequentially detected by a single line camera. Retardance measurements can be affected by polarimetric effects in fibers and couplers. This configuration bypasses such issues by performing the polarization selection before the collection fiber, employing a combination of a polarization rotator and a linear polarizer. Numerical simulations are carried out to verify the tolerance of the proposed configuration to fiber-based disturbances; this was further experimentally verified with similar net retardance maps of a birefringent phantom being obtained for two different settings of induced fiber birefringence.