Frequency comb swept lasers for optical coherence tomography
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Tsai-2010-Frequency comb .pdf
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Author(s)
Tsai, Tsung-Han
Zhou, Chao
Adler, Desmond C.
Fujimoto, James G.
Date Issued
February 2010
Journal
Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering ; v. 7554
Publisher
SPIE
Citation
Tsai, Tsung-Han et al. “Frequency comb swept lasers for optical coherence tomography.” Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XIV. Ed. Joseph A. Izatt, James G. Fujimoto, & Valery V. Tuchin. San Francisco, California, USA: SPIE, 2010. 75541E-10. ©2010 SPIE.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We demonstrate a frequency comb (FC) swept laser and a frequency comb Fourier domain mode locked (FC-FDML) laser for applications in optical coherence tomography (OCT). The fiber-based FC swept lasers operate at a sweep rate of 1kHz and 120kHz, respectively over a 135nm tuning range centered at 1310nm with average output powers of 50mW. A 25GHz free spectral range frequency comb filter in the cavity of swept lasers causes the lasers to generate a series of well defined frequency steps. The narrow bandwidth (0.015nm) of the frequency comb filter enables a ~-1.2dB sensitivity roll off over ~3mm range, compared to conventional swept source and FDML lasers which have -10dB and - 5dB roll offs, respectively. Measurements at very long ranges are possible with minimal sensitivity loss, however reflections from outside the principal measurement range of 0-3mm appear aliased back into the principal range. In addition, the frequency comb output from the lasers are equally spaced in frequency (linear in k-space). The filtered laser output can be used to self-clock the OCT interference signal sampling, enabling direct fast Fourier transformation of the fringe signals, without the need for fringe recalibration procedures. The design and operation principles of FC swept lasers are discussed and interferometric measurement applications are proposed.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.842589
