Shot-noise limited, supercontinuum-based optical coherence tomography

• 作者: Shreesha Rao D.S Mikkel Jensen Lars Grüner-Nielsen Jesper Toft Olsen Peter Heiduschka Bj?rn Kemper Jürgen Schnekenburger Martin Glud Mette Mogensen Niels M?ller Israelsen Ole Bang
• 来源期刊: 光：科学与应用（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（7）
• 所属期刊栏目: Articles
• 页码范围: 1372-1384
• 页数: 13页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

We present the first demonstration of shot-noise limited supercontinuum-based spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) with an axial resolution of 5.9μm at a center wavelength of 1370 nm. Current supercontinuum-based SD-OCT systems cannot be operated in the shot-noise limited detection regime because of severe pulse-to-pulse relative intensity noise of the supercontinuum source. To overcome this disadvantage, we have developed a low-noise supercontinuum source based on an all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fiber, pumped by a femtosecond laser. The noise performance of our 90 MHz ANDi fiber-based supercontinuum source is compared to that of two commercial sources operating at 80 and 320 MHz repetition rate. We show that the low-noise of the ANDi fiber-based supercontinuum source improves the OCT images significantly in terms of both higher contrast, better sensitivity, and improved penetration. From SD-OCT imaging of skin, retina, and multilayer stacks we conclude that supercontinuum-based SD-OCT can enter the domain of shot-noise limited detection.