Patent · US Expired

Fourier domain optical coherence tomography employing a swept multi-wavelength laser and a multi-channel receiver

US7391520B2 · kind B2 · utility

255Cited by
12References
32Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 1, 2005
Grant dateJun 24, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 1, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01J2003/1239
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The present invention is an alternative Fourier domain optical coherence system (FD-OCT) and its associated method. The system comprises a swept multi-wavelength laser, an optical interferometer and a multi-channel receiver. By employing a multi-wavelength laser, the sweeping range for each lasing wavelength is substantially reduced as compared to a pure swept single wavelength laser that needs to cover the same overall spectral range. The overall spectral interferogram is divided over the individual channels of the multi-channel receiver and can be re-constructed through processing of the data from each channel detector. In addition to a substantial increase in the speed of each axial scan, the cost of invented FD-OCT system can also be substantially less than that of a pure swept source OCT or a pure spectral domain OCT system.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.