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Enhancement of optical coherence microscopy in turbid media by an optical parametric amplifier |
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| Authors: | Youbo Zhao Haohua Tu Yuan Liu Andrew J Bower Stephen A Boppart |
| Institution: | 1. Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA;2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA;3. +1 217 244 7479+1 217 333 5833;4. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA;5. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA |
| Abstract: | We report the enhancement in imaging performance of a spectral‐domain optical coherence microscope (OCM) in turbid media by incorporating an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The OPA provides a high level of optical gain to the sample arm, thereby improving the signal‐to‐noise ratio of the OCM by a factor of up to 15 dB. A unique nonlinear confocal gate is automatically formed in the OPA, which enables selective amplification of singly scattered (ballistic) photons against the multiply‐scattered light background. Simultaneous enhancement in both imaging depth and spatial resolution in imaging microstructures in highly light‐scattering media are demonstrated with the combined OPA‐OCM setup.  Typical OCM inteferograms (left) and images (right) without and with OPA. |
| Keywords: | optical coherence tomography microscopy turbid media optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers |