Akinetik swept sources

Abstract

In this chapter we describe a swept laser that uses an integrated, semiconductor design with all the elements of the laser in a chip. Wavelength tuning is performed by direct electronic stimulation with no mechanically–moving elements; in other words, an “akinetic” laser. By eliminating mechanical tuning, which is a common feature of other swept lasers for OCT, the akinetic laser mitigates many of the performance limitations that inhibit quality images. The akinetic laser sweeps over a wide wavelength range in a near perfect linear–in–optical frequency profile while maintaining low relative intensity noise (RIN), low side modes, high sweep speeds, high phase repeatability and long coherence length. The akinetic laser is manufactured with wafer–scale processes, and therefore, the cost of the laser should drop by an order of magnitude in the not–distant future, enabling implementation of OCT to a broader range of imaging and scientific applications.