Abstract

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a technology that allows non-invasive volume imaging with high resolution. The use of swept sources allowed a significant increase in imaging speed, shifting the speed limitation from the detector to the light source [1]. However, most of the current swept source designs use mechanical parts that have intrinsic speed and bandwidth limitations, translating to an axial resolution limitation for the OCT system. Therefore, the development of akinetic swept sources could lead to a further increase in speed and bandwidth. Most such sources have been demonstrated in the telecom band, due to the mature components that are low-cost and low-loss [2]. Due to the high absorption of water in this band that prevents biomedical applications, there is an interest in adapting such a swept source at 1060 nm central wavelength. We present a swept source with an 86 nm spectral bandwidth at full-width half maximum (FWHM), centered at 1050 nm, sweeping at 10 MHz. It is based on a combination of all-normal dispersion (ANDi) supercontinuum dynamics and optical time stretch to achieve a low-noise broadband high-speed swept source.

© 2023 IEEE