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VCSEL Swept Light Sources

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Optical Coherence Tomography

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Abstract

Wavelength-swept light sources are widely recognized as a critical enabling technology for swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). In recent years, amplified micro-electromechanical systems tunable vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (MEMS-VCSELs) have emerged as a high performance swept source, providing a unique combination of of wide tuning range, high maximum sweep rate, variable sweep rate, long dynamic coherence length enabled by dynamic mode-hop-free single mode operation, high optical power, and excellent imaging quality. Other important parameters provided by these devices include operation in a stable polarization state, low output power ripple, and linearized wavelength sweeping. This work describes MEMS-VCSEL device design, fabrication, and performance for devices in the 1050nm band relevant to ophthalmic imaging, and the 1310nm band relevant to vascular, skin, and anatomic imaging. Tuning ranges achieved include 100 nm at 1050nm and 150nm at 1310, with the latter result representing the widest tuning range of any MEMS-VCSEL at any wavelength. Both 1050 and 1310nm devices have enabled record imaging speed, record imaging range, and enhanced SS-OCT imaging.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute grant R44CA101067, R01-CA075289-16; Air Force Office of Scientific Research contracts AFOSR FA9550-10-1-0063, FA9550-10-1-0551; and matching funds provided by Thorlabs. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the Air Force or the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Praevium Research, Inc., 5385 Hollister Avenue #211, Building 8, Office 16, Santa Barbara, CA, 93111, USA

    Vijaysekhar Jayaraman, Martin Robertson, Christopher Burgner & Demis John

  2. Thorlabs, 56 Sparta Ave, Newton, NJ, 07860, USA

    James Jiang & Anjul M. Davis

  3. Advanced Optical Microsystems, 1243 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA, 94040, USA

    Garrett D. Cole

  4. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Benjamin Potsaid, Ireneusz Grulkowski & James G. Fujimoto

  5. Thorlabs Quantum Electronics (TQE), 10335 Guilford Road, Jessup, MD, 20794, USA

    Peter J. S. Heim

  6. Advanced Imaging Group, Thorlabs Inc., Newton, NJ, USA

    Benjamin Potsaid & Alex E. Cable

Authors
  1. Vijaysekhar Jayaraman
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  2. James Jiang
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  3. Benjamin Potsaid
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  4. Martin Robertson
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  5. Peter J. S. Heim
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  6. Christopher Burgner
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  7. Demis John
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  8. Garrett D. Cole
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Correspondence to Vijaysekhar Jayaraman .

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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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Jayaraman, V. et al. (2015). VCSEL Swept Light Sources. In: Drexler, W., Fujimoto, J. (eds) Optical Coherence Tomography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06419-2_23

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