Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 15: Poster 1: Quanteninformation, Quanteneffekte, Laserentwicklung, Laseranwendungen, Ultrakurze Pulse, Photonik

Q 15.47: Poster

Monday, March 14, 2011, 16:30–19:30, P1

Effect of detuning in Fourier domain mode locked lasers on the performance of optical coherence tomography — •Lars Kirsten, Julia Walther, Peter Cimalla, Sven Meissner, Mirko Mehner, and Edmund Koch — Dresden University of Technology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Clinical Sensoring and Monitoring, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an interferometric imaging technique, generally used in medical diagnostics, providing cross-sectional and volumetric images of tissue with a spatial resolution of a few micrometers [1]. Broadband wavelength sweeps are required for swept source Fourier domain OCT to detect the interference spectrum time encodedly. For achieving high repetition rates, Fourier domain mode locked (FDML) lasers [2] have been introduced. In contrast to conventional ring lasers, a long single mode fiber (km) is additionally inserted in the ring resonator yielding a relatively long round trip time (µs). Synchronously to the round trip, a Fabry-Perot filter is tuned periodically over the wavelength range of the amplifier in the ring laser. The presented FDML laser provides wavelength sweeps in the 1300 nm range with repetition rates of 50 kHz and 123 kHz. The laser performance is significantly affected by detuning the sweep frequency of the Fabry-Perot filter against the optical round trip frequency. The influence of detuning on OCT performance, especially on the SNR, is demonstrated.

[1] D. Huang et al. Science 254, 1178-1181 (1991)

[2] R. Huber et al. Optics Express 14, 3225-3237 (2006)