Speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography by path length encoded angular compounding
First Claim
1. An apparatus for irradiating a structure, comprising:
- a sample arm configuration configured to receive an electromagnetic radiation and including an arrangement, the arrangement being configured to produce at least two radiations from the electromagnetic radiation so as to irradiate the structure and delay a first radiation of the radiations with respect to a second radiation of the radiations, wherein the arrangement including at least one of;
a first optical section with a refractive index of at least 1.5, the first section being structured to propagate the radiations, anda second section which has silicon, the second section being structured to propagate the radiations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Speckle, a factor reducing image quality in optical coherence tomography (“OCT”), can limit the ability to identify cellular structures that are important for the diagnosis of a variety of diseases. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention can facilitate an implementation of an angular compounding, angular compounding by path length encoding (“ACPE”) for reducing speckle in OCT images. By averaging images obtained at different incident angles, with each image encoded by path length, ACPE maintains high-speed image acquisition and implements minimal modifications to OCT probe optics. ACPE images obtained from tissue phantoms and human skin in vivo demonstrate a qualitative improvement over traditional OCT and an increased signal-to-noise ratio (“SNR”). Accordingly, exemplary embodiments of an apparatus probe catheter and method can be provided for irradiating a structure. In particular, an interferometer may forward forwarding an electromagnetic radiation. In addition, a sample arm may receive the electromagnetic radiation, and can include an arrangement which facilitates a production of at least two radiations from the electromagnetic radiation so as to irradiate the structure. Such exemplary arrangement can be configured to delay a first radiation of the at least two radiations with respect to a second radiation of the at least two radiations.
494 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An apparatus for irradiating a structure, comprising:
a sample arm configuration configured to receive an electromagnetic radiation and including an arrangement, the arrangement being configured to produce at least two radiations from the electromagnetic radiation so as to irradiate the structure and delay a first radiation of the radiations with respect to a second radiation of the radiations, wherein the arrangement including at least one of; a first optical section with a refractive index of at least 1.5, the first section being structured to propagate the radiations, and a second section which has silicon, the second section being structured to propagate the radiations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An apparatus for obtaining information associated with a structure, comprising;
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a first arrangement configured to received first and second radiations from the structure associated with particular radiations forwarded to the structure which have different path lengths and a third radiation received from a reference, and generate at least one interference signal as a function of the first, second and third radiations; a second arrangement configured to generate; first data associated with the first radiation which includes a first speckle pattern and second data associated with the second radiation which includes a second speckle pattern, and third data associated with the structure based on the first and second data that has a speckle pattern the amount of which is smaller that the amount of at least one of the first speckle pattern or the second speckle pattern. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for obtaining information associated with a structure, comprising;
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a first arrangement configured to separate at least one first electro-magnetic radiation into a first radiation and a second radiation forwarded to the structure, wherein the first and second radiations have different path lengths; a second arrangement configured to received third and fourth radiations from the structure associated with the first and second radiations and a fifth radiation received from a reference; and a third arrangement configured to generate data corresponding to an amount of a ranging depth within the structure associated with the second arrangement, wherein a difference between the path lengths of the first and second radiations is equal or greater than the ranging depth.
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Specification