Electronically scanned optical coherence tomography with frequency modulated signals
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for imaging body tissue comprising:
- a beam splitter configured and arranged to receive a light beam and generate a reference light beam and a sample light beam from the light beam;
a plurality of modulators, each modulator configured and arranged to receive a portion of the reference light beam, each modulator configured and arranged to modulate the portion of the reference light beam received by that modulator at a unique modulation frequency, wherein the modulation by the plurality of modulators forms a plurality of modulated reference light beams;
a beam combiner physically separated from the beam splitter and configured and arranged to receive the sample light beam reflected from a region of body tissue to be imaged and to receive the plurality of modulated reference light beams and to generate a combined light beam from the reflected sample light beam and the plurality of modulated reference light beams;
a light detector configured and arranged to receive the combined light beam and output a detector signal based on the combined light beam;
a tuner configured and arranged to receive the detector signal and to be tunable over a range of the unique modulation frequencies of the plurality of modulated reference light beams; and
a controller configured and arranged to sequentially tune the tuner to each of the unique modulation frequencies one at a time with the tuner consequently converting the detector signal to a tuner output signal.
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Abstract
An improved Optical Coherence Domain Reflectometry (OCDR) system is provided. One embodiment of this OCDR system outputs a detector signal carrying image depth information on multiple modulation frequencies, where each modulation frequency corresponds to a different image depth. The image depth information from the detector signal may be resolved by tuning to the desired modulation frequency. Another system for imaging body tissue uses multiple frequency modulators such that the light beam does not travel from an optical fiber to free space.
59 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for imaging body tissue comprising:
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a beam splitter configured and arranged to receive a light beam and generate a reference light beam and a sample light beam from the light beam; a plurality of modulators, each modulator configured and arranged to receive a portion of the reference light beam, each modulator configured and arranged to modulate the portion of the reference light beam received by that modulator at a unique modulation frequency, wherein the modulation by the plurality of modulators forms a plurality of modulated reference light beams; a beam combiner physically separated from the beam splitter and configured and arranged to receive the sample light beam reflected from a region of body tissue to be imaged and to receive the plurality of modulated reference light beams and to generate a combined light beam from the reflected sample light beam and the plurality of modulated reference light beams; a light detector configured and arranged to receive the combined light beam and output a detector signal based on the combined light beam; a tuner configured and arranged to receive the detector signal and to be tunable over a range of the unique modulation frequencies of the plurality of modulated reference light beams; and a controller configured and arranged to sequentially tune the tuner to each of the unique modulation frequencies one at a time with the tuner consequently converting the detector signal to a tuner output signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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11. A method of imaging body tissue, the method comprising:
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providing a source beam; splitting the source beam into a reference beam and a sample beam using a beam splitter; splitting the reference beam into a plurality of intermediate beams; directing each intermediate beam to a different one of a plurality of light modulators, each light modulator modulating the intermediate beam directed to that light modulator at a different modulation frequency, each modulation frequency corresponding to a different image depth; directing the sample beam at a sample; combining the sample beam, after being directed to the sample, with the plurality of modulated intermediate beams to form a combined beam using a beam combiner that is physically separated from the beam splitter; converting the combined beam into a detector signal using a light detector; and generating a tuner output signal from the detector signal using a tuner that is tuned to each of the different modulation frequencies one at a time, wherein an amplitude of the tuner output signal provides image brightness information and a time position within the tuner output signal provides image depth information. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification