Affiliation:
1. University of Washington
Abstract
We present a fully integrated depth-resolved all fiber-based
polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT). In
contrast to conventional fiber-based PSOCT systems, which require
additional modules to generate two or more input polarization states,
or a pre-adjustment procedure to generate a circularly polarized
light, the proposed all-fiber PSOCT system can provide depth-resolved
birefringent imaging using an arbitrary single input polarization
state. Utilizing the discrete differential geometry (DDG)-based
polarization state tracing (PST) method, combined with several
geometric rotations and transformations in the Stokes space, two
problems induced by the optical fibers can be mitigated: 1) The change
in the polarization state introduced by the optical fibers can be
effectively compensated using a calibration target at the distal end
of the probe, and the computations of the local axis orientation and
local phase retardation can be achieved with a single arbitrary input
polarization state, eliminating the need for a pre-defined input
polarization state, allowing a flexible system design and
user-friendly experimental procedure; 2) The polarization mode
dispersion (PMD) induced by the optical fibers can be compensated
digitally without the requirement of additional input polarization
states, providing an accurate PSOCT imaging result. To demonstrate the
performance of the proposed method, the depth resolved PSOCT results
of a plastic phantom and in vivo skin imaging are
obtained using the proposed all-fiber PSOCT system.
Funder
Washington Research
Foundation