Wavelength-tunable light generator and optical coherence tomography device
US7564565B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 5, 2007 |
| Grant date | Jul 21, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 5, 2027 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01J3/10
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The present invention provides an OCT technique that permits tomographic observation of a biological body parts that is difficult to restrain and also provides a tomographic observation technique for the observation of a constrainable part that does not require constraint and remove the burden from biological body. A wavelength-tunable light generator (wavelength-tunable light source) is employed as the light source of the optical coherence tomography device. The wavelength-tunable light generator has a wave number tunable range width of at least 4.7×10−2 μm−1 and an emitted-light frequency width of no more than 13 GHz, for example, and includes means capable of changing the wave number stepwise at wave number intervals of no more than 3.1×10−4 μm−1 and time intervals of no more than 530 μs.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.