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Broad Bandwidth Laser and Nonlinear Optical Sources for OCT

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Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

OCT achieves very high axial image resolutions independent of focusing conditions because the axial and transverse resolutions are determined independently by different physical mechanisms. This implies that axial OCT resolution can be enhanced using broad bandwidth, low coherence length light sources. The light source not only determines axial OCT resolution via its bandwidth and central emission wavelength but also determines the penetration in the sample (biological tissue), the contrast of the tomogram, and the OCT transverse resolution. A minimum output power with low amplitude noise is also necessary to enable high sensitivity and high-speed – real time – OCT imaging. Hence, it is obvious that the light source is the key technological parameter for an OCT system, and proper choice is imperative. Ultrabroad bandwidth light source technology enables ultrahigh-resolution OCT in the visible and near-infrared wavelength region. Kerr-lens mode-locked solid-state lasers can generate broad bandwidth spectra spanning up to one optical octave. Nonetheless they are restricted to the fluorescence bands of the laser crystal and have a complex architecture making them expensive and preventing widespread industrial use. Spectra far broader than one optical octave can be produced via nonlinear propagation of laser pulses having only moderate energies of a few nJ in microstructured fibers. Complex fibers with one, two, or even no zero-dispersion wavelength can be designed and fabricated to fulfill special requirements as large optical bandwidth and low noise.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank B. Herrmann, B. Hofer, and J.E. Morgan from the School of Optometry and Vision Science, Cardiff University; A.F. Fercher, R. Leitgeb, L. Schachinger, and H. Sattmann from the Centre of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; K. Bizheva from the University of Waterloo, Canada; and A. Stingl, T. Le, G. Tempea, and V. Yakovlew from Femtolasers Produktions GmbH, Vienna, Austria.

The authors would also like to thank Desmond Adler, Stephan Bourquin, Iwona Gorczynska, Ingmar Hartl, Pei-Lin Hsiung, Robert Huber, Tony H. Ko, Jonathan Liu, Norihiko Nishizawa, Vivek J. Srinivasan, and Maciej Wojtkowski from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; James R. Taylor, Christiano J.S. de Matos, and Sergei V. Popov from the Imperial College; Valentin P. Gapontsev form IPG Photonics Corporation; Daniel Kopf, Wolfgang Seitz, and Max Lederer from High Q Laser Production, GmbH; and Vladimir Shidlovski and Sergei Yakubovich from Superlum Diodes, Ltd.

Financial support is acknowledged to Cardiff University, FP6-IST-NMP-2 STREPT (017128), the Christian Doppler Society, NP Photonics (Arizona, USA), FEMTOLASERS GmbH (Vienna, Austria), Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc. (Dublin, CA, USA), Maxon Computer GmbH (Friedrichsdorf, Germany); FWF P14218-PSY, FWF Y 159, CRAF-1999-70549, Christian Doppler Gesellschaft, FEMTOLASERS Produktions GmbH, Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc. This research was also supported at M.I.T. by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Medical Free Electron Laser Program FA9550-040-1-0046 and FA9550-040-1-0011, National Institutes of Health R01-EY011289-21, and R01-CA75289-10, and National Science Foundation ECS-0501478 and BES-0522845.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Angelika Unterhuber

  2. Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron), Hamburg, Germany

    Franz X. Kärtner

  3. Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, General Hospital Vienna, 4L WaehringerGuertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Boris Považay

  4. OptoLab, HuCe - Bern University of Applied Sciences (BUAS), Postfach, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland

    Boris Považay

  5. Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, General Hospital Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfgang Drexler

  6. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Aaron D. Aguirre

  7. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Aaron D. Aguirre & James G. Fujimoto

  8. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Yu Chen

  9. Biomedical Optics and Imaging Laboratory, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Yu Chen

Authors
  1. Angelika Unterhuber
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  2. Boris Považay
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  3. Aaron D. Aguirre
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  4. Yu Chen
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  5. Franz X. Kärtner
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  6. James G. Fujimoto
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  7. Wolfgang Drexler
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Correspondence to Angelika Unterhuber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, General Hospital Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfgang Drexler

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    James G. Fujimoto

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Unterhuber, A. et al. (2015). Broad Bandwidth Laser and Nonlinear Optical Sources for OCT. In: Drexler, W., Fujimoto, J. (eds) Optical Coherence Tomography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06419-2_20

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