The flexible membranes used in MEMS tunable VCSELs are so small and light that thermally-induced vibrations can impact performance. We measure the thermal vibration spectrum of such a membrane showing peaks at the spatial vibration mode resonant frequencies of the membrane/plate. These vibrations result in a theoretical floor to the linewidth of the VCSEL. Frequency domain LiDAR and optical coherence tomography systems can get around this thermal linewidth limit with adequate clock measurement and processing. Essentially an OCT/LiDAR sweep with a concomitantly measured clock is a feed-forward linewidth reduction scheme. LiDAR ranging out to 10 meters has been demonstrated.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be an important diagnostic tool in optics R&D and manufacturing. We illustrate this with four applications. (1) Imaging of vibration modes of MEMS membranes. (2) Strain mapping of VCSEL chips. (3) Optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) of laser cavities. (4) Combined responsivity and 3D mapping of photodiode packages.
Side lobe artifacts on point spread functions can be traced back to (1) fringe visibility variation across the spectrum, (2) errors in sampling instances, and (3) window functions. We demonstrate signal processing methods for correcting for all three of these issues. These methods require a system calibration step. If the systems slowly age, the recalibration step could be performed in the field with a fixtured target.
Near infrared imaging methods, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), have shown promise in assessing activity of enamel caries lesions. We present initial results in ex-vivo dental samples with a polarization diversity-detection OCT system complete with an integrated dental handpiece. Built around an Axsun Technologies swept source engine, images B-scans 12(x) by 7(z) mm at over 100 fps with 66um transverse and 7um depth resolution. Internal normal dental structure and lesions were imaged and compared with micro-CT. We demonstrate that the Axsun OCT prototype can detect the penetration of occlusal lesions to dentin and measure the penetration of approximal lesions when imaging from the occlusal surface.
A 1060 nm optically pumped tunable VCSEL was formed from an InGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs half-VCSEL bonded to a MEMS movable mirror on a silicon substrate. The VCSEL was co-packaged in a 14-pin butterfly module with an 825 nm pump laser and a 1060 nm semiconductor optical amplifier. The co-packaged device exhibited shot-noise-limited sensitivity with up to 50 mW output power and 75 nm tunability. Ophthalmic OCT, especially whole-eye imaging and ocular biometry, is considered the primary application of this device. However, we have also investigated LiDAR to greater than 10 meter ranges with non-mechanical beam steering through angular diffraction from a grating. A new generation of photonic integrated circuit LiDARs work this way and we have investigated the depth resolution limitations due to time dispersion from the grating. Distributed fiber temperature sensing was also demonstrated.
A back-to-back comparison of a tunable narrow-band SLED (TSLED) and a swept laser are made for OCT applications. Both are 1310 nm sources sweeping at 50 kHz over a 100 nm tuning range and have similar coherence lengths. The TSLED consists of a seed SOA and two amplification SOAs. The ASE is filtered twice by a tunable MEMS Fabry Perot in a polarization multiplexed double-pass arrangement on either side of the middle SOA. This allows very long coherence lengths to be achieved.
A fundamental issue with a SLED is that the RIN is proportional to 1/Linewidth, meaning that the longer the coherence length, the higher the RIN. High RIN also leads to increased clock jitter.
Most swept source SNR calculations assume that the noise is independent of the amplitude of the signal light: The higher the signal, the higher the SNR. We show that in the case of the TSLED, that the high signal RIN and clock jitter give rise to additional noises that scale with signal power. This leads to an SNR limit in the case of the TSLED: The higher the signal, the higher the noise, so the SNR reaches a limit. While the TSLED has respectable sensitivity, the SNR limit causes noise streaks in an image where the A-line has a high reflectivity point. The laser, which is shot noise limited, does not exhibit this effect. This is illustrated with SNR data and side-by-side images taken with the two sources.
We demonstrate the detection of iron oxide nanoparticles taken up by macrophages in atherosclerotic plaque with differential phase optical coherence tomography (DP-OCT). Magneto mechanical detection of nanoparticles is demonstrated in hyperlipidemic Watanabe and balloon-injured fat-fed New Zealand white rabbits injected with monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticles (MIONs) of <40 nm diam. MIONs taken up by macrophages was excited by an oscillating magnetic flux density and resulting nanometer tissue surface displacement was detected by DP-OCT. Frequency response of tissue surface displacement in response to an externally applied magnetic flux density was twice the stimulus frequency as expected from the equations of motion for the nanoparticle cluster.
The relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) birefringence (&Dgr;n) and neurotubule density (NTD, retinal
ganglion cell (RGC) neurotubules per unit RNFL area) was investigated by correlating measurements of these two
parameters in 1 eye of a healthy cynomolgus monkey. Phase retardation per unit depth (PR/UD, proportional to &Dgr;n) was
measured at 5.6-15o intervals around the optic nerve head (ONH) with an enhanced polarization-sensitive optical
coherence tomography (EPS-OCT) instrument. Transverse tissue sections containing 3 RGC nerve fiber bundles from
each peripapillary RNFL octant were imaged with a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Morphological
measurements taken in TEM images were used by a novel algorithm to estimate NTD. Registered PR/UD and NTD data
were then correlated using single- and multi-level models, yielding correlation coefficients in the range 0.49 ⩽ r ⩽ 0.61
(0.06 ⩽ P ⩽ 0.11). It was found that in order for the single-level correlation coefficient (r = 0.61) to be statistically
significant (P ⩽ 0.05) and powerful (Power ⩾ 80%), NTD measurements in at least 16, rather than 8, RNFL sectors were
needed. Interestingly, a single-level correlation coefficient of r = 0.81 (P = 0.01) was calculated between octant-averaged
PR/UD and RGC axoplasmic area (Ax, axon area less non-cytoskeletal organelle area) mode. Ax represents a
RGC axon's neurotubule-inhabitable area. Intuitively, a strong relationship should exist between Ax and neurotubule
number if neurotubules provide the primary structural support for RGC axons and structural requirements are the same
in all RGC axons. If this relationship exists, error resulting from NTD estimation methods or preservation artifacts may
have caused lower observed correlations of PR/UD with NTD than with Ax mode, and more accurate methods of
measuring in vivo NTD may be required to determine an accurate relationship between RNFL birefringence and NTD.
Previous studies identified various mechanisms of light scattering reduction in tissue induced by chemical agents. Our results suggest that dehydration is an important mechanism of optical clearing in collagenous and cellular tissue. Photographic and optical coherence tomography images indicate that air-immersed skin and tendon specimens become similarly transparent to glycerol-immersed specimens. Transmission electron microscopy images reveal that dehydration causes individual scattering particles such as collagen fibrils and organelles to become more densely packed, but does not significantly alter size. A heuristic particle-interaction model predicts that the scattering particle volume fraction increase can contribute substantially to optical clearing in collagenous and cellular tissue.
Characterizing and quantifying noise sources in birefringence imaging with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is necessary for the development of efficient noise reduction techniques for real-time clinical PS-OCT imaging. We propose three noise regimes based on the strength of specimen backscattering and dominated by different noise sources. We introduce a model that predicts noise effects in two regimes. The model includes source/detector intensity noise, and couples speckle effects with the longitudinal delays due to instrument and specimen birefringence to create realistic noise on simulated orthogonal interference fringe amplitudes and on their relative phases. Experimental examples of the three regimes are presented and in two of them, qualitative agreement between the model and experimental data is demonstrated.
A spatially-multiplexed swept-source optical coherence tomography
(SM-SS-OCT) system for rapid acquisition of B-scans of tissue microstructure is described, we believe, for the first time.
SM-SS-OCT instrumentation is similar to that of traditional Swept Source OCT (SS-OCT), which uses a widely tunable (~100 nm) laser source to obtain high-resolution images of biological tissue. However, SM-SS- OCT may be considered an improvement over SS-OCT in terms of efficient usage of the wide spectral bandwidth afforded by the frequency-tunable lasers in SS-OCT systems. Commercially available swept-source lasers regularly achieve extremely narrow line widths (~150 KHz), allowing for SS-OCT A-scan depths on the order of meters. Since imaging tissue to such depths is infeasible, the
meters-long depth ranging capability of SS-OCT may be utilized for spatially multiplexing many A-scans, each to lesser depth. We achieve this spatial multiplexing by rapidly scanning all lateral positions of the tissue repetitively while simultaneously scanning the laser wavelength continuously, and using appropriate signal processing to reconstruct a B-scan image from acquired data. Our fiber-based design lends itself towards use in endoscopic applications, and our results suggest that SM-SS-OCT can provide rapid acquisition of B-scans, with potential for depth-resolved visualization of transient processes in biological tissue.
Form-birefringent properties of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) have become increasingly important as investigators strive to provide an improved methodology for glaucoma diagnosis. Techniques such as scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) and polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) are two approaches which directly assess RNFL neurotubules, the sub-cellular structures responsible for form-birefringence and axoplasmic transport in retinal ganglion cell axons. We present a novel algorithm for enhancing the sensitivity of PS-OCT. Enhanced polarization-sensitive OCT (EPS-OCT) is capable of detecting small transformations in polarization typically experienced by light propagating through the thin and weakly birefringent primate RNFL. We report birefringence and nerve fiber orientation measurements for the peripapillary region in healthy in vivo primate RNFL and discuss the implications of the enhanced-sensitivity approach on noninvasive quantification of form-birefringence in glaucoma diagnostics.
Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) has been used to measure birefringence of biological samples, namely the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL). The presence of blood vessels in biological samples complicates accurate measurement of tissue birefringence as a result of the Doppler shift in fringe frequency and the shadowing effect below blood vessels due to absorption and scattering of light photons by blood. We investigate phase retardation measurement with controlled capillary blood flow overlying a birefringent sample with enhanced polarization-sensitivity optical coherence tomography (EPS-OCT). The effect of blood flow on the calculation of phase retardation and tissue birefringence was studied in the polarization domain. Light propagating through an overlying moving turbid medium (blood) undergoes single or multiple forward scattering events and a Doppler shift in presence of flow. Light propagating through an overlying medium may introduce Doppler shifts of each polarization component and/or polarization shifts or retardation of light. While undergoing multiple forward scattering, each scattering event can modify the frequency or light phase delay. In successive scattering events, potential Doppler shifts and/or polarization shifts accumulate. Light propagating within the birefringent sample undergoes multiple forward scattering events leading to phase retardation between polarization components. This paper investigates phase retardation measurement underlying physiological blood flow rates (6, 12, 18, and 24μl/min) at a range of light incident angle (0-20 deg.) on the sample. With EPS-OCT, the effect of light scattering and differential Doppler shifts between the polarization modes on the measurement of phase retardation was within our speckle noise range.
Phase retardation per unit depth (PR/UD) is a physiologically significant parameter which correlates with the orderly arrangement of neurons and neurofibrils within the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and can vary in glaucoma. The objective of this study is to use Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PSOCT), to detect both RNFL thickness and depth-resolved birefringence and produce thickness and PR/UD maps of the primate RNFL. RNFL
thickness is obtained from the PSOCT intensity image with boundary detection using imaging processing methods. Analysis of PR/UD begins with calculating the Stokes parameters from the horizontal magnitude, vertical magnitude and relative phase difference in the interference fringes of light back scattered from the retina. Computed Stokes parameters are used to determine the fast axis in the RNFL and local phase retardation. PR/UD is calculated by dividing local birefringence by the corresponding RNFL thickness. A three-dimensional map of PR/UD and RNFL thickness is constructed by combining registered B-scans. Three-dimensional maps of thickness and PR/UD from the primate RNFL show that PSOCT is can be used for detecting thickness and PR/UD of the peripapillary RNFL and a very effective modality to diagnose glaucoma.
We describe a Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) system with de-correlated horizontal and vertical channels. Construction of PS-OCT depth-resolved images is achieved with a scanning bulk Michelson interferometer and a broadband TiAl2O3 femtosecond laser source. We de-correlate and delay horizontal and vertical channels using a birefringent crystal in the source path and calcite prism pairs in the sample and reference paths. Cross-correlation and phase changes between horizontal and vertical channels are measured at different reference-sample optical delays in correlated and de-correlated PS-OCT. PS-OCT with de-correlated (DPS-OCT) channels can broaden applications to include de-correlated Doppler imaging of blood flow and imaging the retinal nerve fiber layer with delayed channels. We achieve a differential delay of 0-400 microns between vertical and horizontal channels by translating the calcite prisms. DPS-OCT system design and experimental measurements are presented and discussed.
Imaging the optical phase retardation per unit depth (OPR/UD) in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) may aid in glaucoma diagnosis. Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PSOCT) was used to record in vivo high-resolution images of the RNFL in two cynomologous monkeys. The depth variation in the Stokes vector of reflected light was used to calculate the OPR/UD as a function of RNFL position. OPR/UD decreased from 35 degree(s)/100 micrometers near the optic nerve to 5 degree(s)/100 micrometers at a location 600 micrometers superior to the optic nerve. Variation of OPR/UD in the RNFL with retinal position demonstrates a change in birefringence for different densities of ganglion cell axons. PSOCT may be useful for noninvasive determination of RNFL thickness and fiber density.
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