Fiber optic imaging endoscope interferometer with at least one faraday rotator

US6501551B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology · US

Inventors

• Guillermo J. Tearney · Cambridge, US
• Stephen A. Boppart · Champaign, US
• Brett Eugene Bouma · Quincy, US
• Mark Brezinski · Malden, US
• Eric Swanson · Gloucester, US
• James G. Fujimoto · Cambridge, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 5, 1999
• Grant date: Dec 31, 2002
• Expiry date: Oct 5, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S5/141
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An imaging system for performing optical coherence tomography includes an optical radiation source; a reference optical reflector; a first optical path leading to the reference optical reflector; and a second optical path coupled to an endoscopic unit. The endoscopic unit preferably includes an elongated housing defining a bore; a rotatable single mode optical fiber having a proximal end and a distal end positioned within and extending the length of the bore of the elongated housing; and an optical system coupled to the distal end of the rotatable single mode optical fiber, positioned to transmit the optical radiation from the single mode optical fiber to the structure and to transmit reflected optical radiation from the structure to the single mode optical fiber. The system further includes a beam divider dividing the optical radiation from the optical radiation source along the first optical path to the reflector and along the second optical path; and a detector positioned to receive reflected optical radiation from the reflector transmitted along the first optical path and reflected optical radiation transmitted from the structure along the second optical path. The detector gene…