Open AccessSpeckle Reduction in OCT using Massively-Parallel Detection and Frequency-Domain Ranging
Author(s) -
Adrien E. Desjardins,
Benjamin J. Vakoc,
Guillermo J. Tearney,
Brett E. Bouma
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.14.004736
Subject(s) - optics , speckle pattern , optical coherence tomography , ranging , speckle noise , materials science , speckle imaging , interferometry , imaging phantom , detector , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , frequency domain , physics , computer science , telecommunications , quantum mechanics , computer vision
Speckle noise significantly limits the information content provided by coherent optical imaging methods such as optical coherence tomography and its recent derivative, optical frequency-domain imaging (OFDI). In this paper, we demonstrate a novel OFDI system that simultaneously acquires hundreds of angularly resolved images, which can be compounded to reduce speckle noise. The system comprises an InGaAs line-scan camera and an interferometer, configured so that the elements of the detector array simultaneously capture light spanning a backscattering angular range of 32 degrees. On successive read-outs of the array, the wavelength of the laser source was stepped through a range of 130 nm centered at 1295 nm to concurrently generate 400 angle-resolved OFDI images. A theory of angle-resolved OFDI and the design equations of the system are presented. Incoherent averaging of the angle-resolved data is shown to yield substantial speckle reduction (as high as an 8 dB SNR improvement) in images of a tissue phantom and esophageal tissue ex vivo.