Double Interferometer Design for Independent Wavefront Manipulation in Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

authored by

Jonas Kanngiesser, Maik Rahlves, Bernhard Roth

Abstract

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) is a highly versatile method which allows for three dimensional optical imaging in scattering media. A number of recent publications demonstrated the technique to benefit from structured illumination and beam shaping approaches, e.g. to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio or the penetration depth with samples such as biological tissue. We present a compact and easy to implement design for independent wavefront manipulation and beam shaping at the reference and sample arm of the interferometric OCT device. The design requires a single spatial light modulator and can be integrated to existing free space SD-OCT systems by modifying the source arm only. We provide analytical and numerical discussion of the presented design as well as experimental data confirming the theoretical analysis. The system is highly versatile and lends itself for applications where independent phase or wavefront control is required. We demonstrate the system to be used for wavefront sensorless adaptive optics as well as for iterative optical wavefront shaping for OCT signal enhancement in strongly scattering media.

Organisation(s)

Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT)
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines

Type

Article

Journal

Scientific reports

Volume

9

ISSN

2045-2322

Publication date

10.10.2019

Publication status

E-pub ahead of print

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50996-2 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/10491 (Access: Open)