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A polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) system is able to not only show the structure of samples through the analysis of backscattered light, but is also capable of determining their polarimetric properties. This is an extra functionality to OCT which allows the retardance and axis orientation of a bulk sample to be determined. Here, we describe the temperature instabilities of a depth-encoded, multiple input state PS-OCT system, where two waves corresponding to two orthogonal states in the interrogating beam are delayed using a 5-meter long polarization-maintaning (PM) fiber. It is shown that the temperature not only affects the delay between the two relatively delayed waves, but also the amount of mismatched dispersion in the interferometer, which ultimately affects the achievable axial resolution in the system. To this end, the technique of complex master/slave interferometry (CMSI) can be used as an option to mitigate this effect., Comment: The first two authors contributed equally to this work

Forward-viewing endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides 3D imaging in vivo, and can be combined with widefield fluorescence imaging by use of a double-clad fiber. However, it is technically challenging to build a high-performance miniaturized 2D scanning system with a large field-of-view. In this paper we demonstrate how a 1D scanning probe, which produces cross-sectional OCT images (B-scans) and 1D fluorescence T-scans, can be transformed into a 2D scanning probe by manual scanning along the second axis. OCT volumes are assembled from the B-scans using speckle decorrelation measurements to estimate the out-of-plane motion along the manual scan direction. Motion within the plane of the B-scans is corrected using image registration by normalized cross correlation. En-face OCT slices and fluorescence images, corrected for probe motion in 3D, can be displayed in real-time during the scan. For a B-scan frame rate of 250 Hz, and an OCT lateral resolution of approximately 20 micrometers, the approach can handle out-of-plane motion at speeds of up to 4 mm/s., Comment: 16 pages

The potential for improving the penetration depth of optical coherence tomography systems by using increasingly longer wavelength light sources has been known since the inception of the technique in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, the development of mid-infrared optical coherence tomography has long been challenged by the maturity and fidelity of optical components in this spectral region, resulting in slow acquisition, low sensitivity, and poor axial resolution. In this work, a mid-infrared spectral-domain optical coherence tomography system operating at 4 micron central wavelength with an axial resolution of 8.6 microns is demonstrated. The system produces 2D cross-sectional images in real-time enabled by a high-brightness 0.9-4.7 micron mid-infrared supercontinuum source with 1 MHz pulse repetition rate for illumination and broadband upconversion of more than 1 micron bandwidth from 3.58-4.63 microns to 820-865 nm, where a standard 800 nm spectrometer can be used for fast detection. Images produced by the mid-infrared system are compared with those delivered by a state-of-the-art ultra-high-resolution near-infrared optical coherence tomography system operating at 1.3 {\mu}m, and the potential applications and samples suited for this technology are discussed. In doing so, the first practical mid-infrared optical coherence tomography system is demonstrated, with immediate applications in real-time non-destructive testing for the inspection of defects and thickness measurements in samples that are too highly scattering at shorter wavelengths.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging of the skin is gaining recognition and is increasingly applied to dermatological research. A key dermatological parameter inferred from an OCT image is the epidermal (Ep) thickness as a thickened Ep can be an indicator of a skin disease. Agreement in the literature on the signal characters of Ep and the subjacent skin layer, the dermis (D), is evident. Ambiguities of the OCT signal interpretation in the literature is however seen for the transition region between the Ep and D, which from histology is known as the dermo-epidermal junction (DEJ); a distinct junction comprised by the lower surface of a single cell layer in epidermis connected to an even thinner basement membrane, attached to the underlying dermis. In this work we investigate the impact of an improved axial and lateral resolution on the applicability of OCT for imaging of the skin. To this goal, OCT images are compared produced by a commercial OCT system and by an in-house built ultrahigh resolution (UHR-) OCT system for dermatology. In 11 healthy volunteers, we investigate the DEJ signal characteristics. We perform a detailed analysis of the dark (low) signal band clearly seen for UHR-OCT in the DEJ region where we, by using a transition function, find the signal transition of axial sub-resolution character, which can be directly attributed to the exact location of DEJ, both in normal (thin/hairy) and glabrous (thick) skin. For selected healthy volunteers, we investigate the dermal papillae and the vellus hairs and identify distinct features that only UHR-OCT can resolve. Differences are seen in tracing hairs of diameter below 20mm, and in imaging the dermal papillae where capillary structures are identified in the hand palm, not previously reported in OCT studies and specifically for glabrous skin not reported in any other in vivo optical imaging studies., Comment: 25 pages, 17 figures

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an established imaging technology for in vivo skin investigation. Topical application of gold nanoshells (GNS) provides contrast enhancement in OCT by generating a strong hyperreflective signal from hair follicles and sweat glands, which are the natural skin openings. This study explores the utility of 150 nm diameter GNS as contrast agent for OCT imaging. GNS was massaged into skin and examined in four skin areas of 11 healthy participants. A commercial OCT system and a prototype with 3 micron resolution (UHR-OCT) were employed to detect potential benefits of increased resolution and variability in intensity generated from GNS. In both OCT-systems GNS enhanced contrast from hair follicles and sweat ducts. Highest average penetration depth of GNS was in armpit 0.64 mm plus/minus 0.17, maximum penetration depth was 1.20 mm in hair follicles and 15-40 microns in sweat ducts. Pixel intensity generated from GNS in hair follicles was significantly higher in UHR-OCT images (p=0.002) and epidermal thickness significantly lower 0.14 vs. 0.16 mm (p=0.027). Hence topical application of GNS increases OCT signals from natural skin openings. GNS may also increase sensitivity in OCT diagnosis of certain skin diseases, which is to be examined in future studies.

In ultra-high resolution (UHR-) optical coherence tomography (OCT) group velocity dispersion (GVD) must be corrected for in order to approach the theoretical resolution limit. One approach promises not only compensation, but complete annihilation of even order dispersion effects, and that at all sample depths. This approach has hitherto been demonstrated with an experimentally demanding 'balanced detection' configuration based on using two detectors. We demonstrate intensity correlation (IC) OCT using a conventional spectral domain (SD) UHR-OCT system with a single detector. IC-SD-OCT configurations exhibit cross term ghost images and a reduced axial range, half of that of conventional SD-OCT. We demonstrate that both shortcomings can be removed by applying a novel generic artefact reduction algorithm and using analytic interferograms. We show the superiority of IC-SD-OCT compared to conventional SD-OCT by showing how IC-SD-OCT is able to image spatial structures behind a strongly dispersive silicon wafer. Finally, we question the resolution enhancement of square root 2 that IC-SD-OCT is often believed to have compared to SD-OCT. We show that this is simply the effect of squaring the reflectivity profile as a natural result of processing the product of two intensity spectra instead of a single spectrum., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

Large-volume optical coherence tomography (OCT)-setups employ scanning mirrors and suffer from non-linear geometric distortion artifacts in which the degree of distortion is determined by the maximum angles over which the mirrors rotate. In this chapter, we describe a straightforward approach to correct for these distortion artifacts, creating an alternative to previously reported ray-tracing schemes that are unable to apply these corrections in real-time. By implementing the proposed 3D recalibration algorithm on the graphics card of a standard computer, this feature can be applied in real-time. We validate the accuracy of the technique using OCT measurements of a highly curved object within a large imaging volume of 12.35 x 10.13 x 2.36 mm^3. The resulting 3D object shape measurements are compared against high-resolution and aberration-free optical profilometry measurements. Maintaining an optical resolution of <10 micron within the sample, both axially and transversally, we realized a real-time, high-resolution, large-volume OCT imaging system, capable of producing distortion corrected wide-field OCT data with a geometric surface shape accuracy of <15 micron.