Full-Range Spectral Domain Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) systems achieve higher sensitivities compared to time domain OCT systems. However, one of the main challenges in SD-OCT is the obscuring object structure called ghost image or mirror image that arises from the Fourier transform of a real function. We have designed and developed a phaseshifting- based full-range SD-OCT system that we refer to as the dual detection full range SD-OCT. The proposed technique simultaneously obtains the quadrature components of a complex spectral interference. Therefore, the technique enables full range imaging without any loss of speed and is intrinsically less sensitive to movements of the subject. In this paper, we demonstrate that the dual detection technique can be applied to Doppler imaging without loss in the velocity dynamic range since the phase information of the acquired spectra is preserved. The dual detection full range SD-OCT provides a superior signal-to-noise ratio over a conventional SD-OCT since the most sensitive region around the zero path delay is usable. This capability improves the image quality of not only the structural image but also the Doppler image. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering