Visible light optical coherence tomography

Abstract

We demonstrate for the first time optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the visible wavelength range with unprecedented sub-micrometer axial resolution, achieved by employing a photonic crystal fiber in combination with a sub-15fs Ti:sapphire laser (FEMTOLASERS). The shaped emission spectrum produced by the photonic crystal fiber ranges from 535 nm to 700 nm (centered at ~600 nm) resulting in ~0.9 µm axial OCT resolution in air corresponding to ~0.6 µm in biological tissue. Preliminary demonstration of the sub-micrometer resolution achieved with this visible light OCT setup is demonstrated on a 2.2 µm thick nitrocellulose membrane. The visible wavelength range not only enables extremely high axial resolution for OCT imaging, but also offers an attractive region for spectroscopic OCT. © 2002 SPIE.