Tunable laser array system
First Claim
1. A system for swept source optical coherence tomography, the system comprising a light source emitting multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation over a total wavelength range, said light source comprising N wavelength-swept vertical cavity lasers (VCL) emitting N tunable VCL outputs having N wavelength trajectories, where N is greater than one, a combiner for combining said N tunable VCL optical outputs into a common optical path to create said multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation, a splitter for splitting said multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal created by an optical interference between a reflection from said sample and light traversing said reference path, and a signal processing system which uses said interference signal to construct an image of said sample, wherein at least one of said N wavelength trajectories differs substantially from another of said N wavelength trajectories with respect to at least one parameter of the group consisting of wavelength repetition rate, wavelength sweep speed, phase translation, and wavelength tuning range, wherein said N vertical cavity lasers include a first VCL emitting a first VCL output over a first VCL wavelength tuning range, and a second VCL emitting a second VCL output over a second VCL wavelength tuning range, wherein said total wavelength range comprises a combination of said first and second VCL wavelength tuning ranges.
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Abstract
A system for swept source optical coherence tomography, the system including a light source emitting multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation over a total wavelength range, the light source including N wavelength-swept vertical cavity lasers (VCL) emitting N tunable VCL outputs having N wavelength trajectories, a combiner for combining the N tunable VCL optical outputs into a common optical path to create the multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation, a splitter for splitting the multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal created by an optical interference between a reflection from the sample and light traversing the reference path, and a signal processing system which uses the interference signal to construct an image of the sample, wherein at least one of the N wavelength trajectories differs from another of the N wavelength trajectories with respect to at least one parameter.
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Citations
33 Claims
- 1. A system for swept source optical coherence tomography, the system comprising a light source emitting multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation over a total wavelength range, said light source comprising N wavelength-swept vertical cavity lasers (VCL) emitting N tunable VCL outputs having N wavelength trajectories, where N is greater than one, a combiner for combining said N tunable VCL optical outputs into a common optical path to create said multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation, a splitter for splitting said multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal created by an optical interference between a reflection from said sample and light traversing said reference path, and a signal processing system which uses said interference signal to construct an image of said sample, wherein at least one of said N wavelength trajectories differs substantially from another of said N wavelength trajectories with respect to at least one parameter of the group consisting of wavelength repetition rate, wavelength sweep speed, phase translation, and wavelength tuning range, wherein said N vertical cavity lasers include a first VCL emitting a first VCL output over a first VCL wavelength tuning range, and a second VCL emitting a second VCL output over a second VCL wavelength tuning range, wherein said total wavelength range comprises a combination of said first and second VCL wavelength tuning ranges.
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