Littrow spectrometer and a spectral domain optical coherence tomography system with a Littrow spectrometer

US7456957B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Carl Zeiss Meditec AG · DE

Inventors

• Matthew J. Everett · Livermore, US
• Yan Zhou · Solna, SE
• Jochen Horn · San Francisco, US
• Keith O'Hara · Pleasanton, US
• James P. Foley · New York, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 3, 2005
• Grant date: Nov 25, 2008
• Expiry date: Apr 12, 2026

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61B3/102
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A compact conical diffraction Littrow spectrometer is disclosed. The distortion of the conically diffracted spectral component beams is compensated and as a result, the diffracted spectral beams can still be focused into a substantially straight line to shine onto a detector array. A spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system incorporating a Littrow spectrometer or a spectrometer having one or more shared focusing element(s) and an SD-OCT system incorporating a spectrometer that is substantially polarization independent are also disclosed.