Multi-channel swept source optical coherence tomography concept based on photonic integrated circuits
Abstract
In this paper, we present a novel concept for a multi-channel swept source optical coherence tomography (OCT) system based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs). At the core of this concept is a low-loss polarization dependent path routing approach allowing for lower excess loss compared to previously shown PIC-based OCT systems, facilitating a parallelization of measurement units. As a proof of concept for the low-loss path routing, a silicon nitride PIC-based single-channel swept source OCT system operating at 840 nm was implemented and used to acquire in-vivo tomograms of a human retina. The fabrication of the PIC was done via CMOS-compatible plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition to allow future monolithic co-integration with photodiodes and read-out electronics. A performance analysis using the results of the implemented photonic building blocks shows a potential tenfold increase of the acquisition speed for a multi-channel system compared to an ideal lossless single-channel system with the same signal-to-noise ratio.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2011.14780,
title = {Multi-channel swept source optical coherence tomography concept based on photonic integrated circuits},
author = {Stefan Nevlacsil and Paul Muellner and Alejandro Maese-Novo and Moritz Eggeling and Florian Vogelbacher and Martin Sagmeister and Jochen Kraft and Elisabet Rank and Wolfgang Drexler and Rainer Hainberger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.14780},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
15 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables