Open AccessChromatic polarization effects of swept waveforms in FDML lasers and fiber spools
Author(s) -
Wolfgang Wieser,
Gesa Palte,
Christoph M. Eigenwillig,
Benjamin R. Biedermann,
Tom Pfeiffer,
Robert Huber
Publication year - 2012
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.20.009819
Subject(s) - optics , polarization (electrochemistry) , laser , fiber laser , optical coherence tomography , materials science , wavelength , linear polarization , optoelectronics , physics , chemistry
We present detailed investigations of chromatic polarization effects, caused by fiber spools used in FDML lasers and buffering spools for rapidly wavelength swept lasers. We introduce a novel wavelength swept FDML laser source, specially tailored for polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT) which switches between two different linear polarization states separated by 45°, i.e. 90° on the Poincaré sphere. The polarization maintaining laser cavity itself generates a stable linear polarization state and uses an external buffering technique in order to provide alternating polarization states for successive wavelength sweeps. The design of the setup is based on a comprehensive analysis of the polarization output from FDML lasers, using a novel 150 MHz polarization analyzer. We investigate the fiber polarization properties related to swept source OCT for different fiber delay topologies and analyze the polarization state of different FDML laser sources.