Thermally tuned VCSEL at 850 nm as a low-cost alternative source for full-eye SS-OCT

Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) demonstrates superior performance in comparison to spectral domain OCT with regard to depth ranging. The main driver of cost for SS-OCT systems is, however, the price of the source. Here we show a low-cost alternative swept source that uses a therma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2023-06, Vol.48 (11), p.3079-3082
Main Authors: Kendrisic, Milana, Agafonov, Vladislav, Salas, Matthias, Ferrara, Lorenzo, Niederleithner, Michael, Resch, Hemma, Steiner, Stefan, Vass, Clemens, Drexler, Wolfgang, Leitgeb, Rainer A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cornea
Eye (anatomy)
Injection current
Low cost
Operating temperature
Optical Coherence Tomography
Sensitivity
Vertical cavity surface emission lasers
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Summary:Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) demonstrates superior performance in comparison to spectral domain OCT with regard to depth ranging. The main driver of cost for SS-OCT systems is, however, the price of the source. Here we show a low-cost alternative swept source that uses a thermally tuned vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) at 850 nm. Its center wavelength can be tuned by adjusting the operating temperature through modulation of the injection current. At 2 kHz sweep rate, the depth range of the system was 5 cm, with a sensitivity roll-off of under -3 dB across this range. The system achieved a sensitivity of 97 dB with a sample beam power of 0.3 mW and an axial resolution of 50 µm in air. To demonstrate the system performance in vivo, an eye of a healthy volunteer was measured, and full-eye scans were acquired at 25 and 50 kHz from the cornea to the retina. Based on our results, we believe that this technology can be used as a cost-effective alternative OCT for point-of-care diagnostics.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.489050