Abstract
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging technology for micron-scale cross-sectional imaging of biological tissue and materials [1]. High resolution detection of reflected or backscattered light is performed using low coherence interferometry. One of the key problems in OCT has been the lack of compact, high performance, low coherence light sources with sufficient bandwidth and power to enable high resolution, real time imaging. A Ti:Al2O3 laser generating ~5fs pulses and bandwidths of 300 nm centered at 800 nm has been demonstrated for 1.5 µm axial resolution OCT imaging [2,3]. High nonlinearity, air-silica microstructure fibers [4] or tapered fibers [5] can generate a broadband continuum using low energy femtosecond pulses and have been used to achieve 2.5 µm imagie resolution at 1300 nm center wavelengths [6]. While these approaches achieve high resolutions in the important 800 nm and 1300 nm wavelength ranges, these lasers are relative expensive and bulky.
© 2002 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
I. Hartl, P. Hsiung, T.H. Ko, J.G. Fujimoto, T.A. Birks, W.J. Wadsworth, U. Bünting, and D. Kopf
CThI3 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 2002
W. Drexler, U. Morgner, F.X. Kärtner, R.K. Ghanta, J.S. Schuman, and J.G. Fujimoto
MK2_1 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Pacific Rim (CLEO/PR) 2001
W. Drexler, U. Morgner, F.X. Kärtner, S.A. Boppart, X. Li, C. Pitris, J. Schuman, E.P. Ippen, and J.G. Fujimoto
JWA2 Biomedical Topical Meeting (BIOMED) 1999