Abstract
We present a new way of improving the efficiency of optical coherence tomography by using the polarisation crosstalk of a polarizing beam splitter to direct most of the available source optical power to the sample. The use of a quarter wave plate in both the reference and the sample arms allows most of the sample power to be directed to the detector while adjusting the reference arm to ensure noise optimised operation. As a result, the sensitivity of such a system can be improved by 6 dB, or alternatively the acquisition time can be improved by a factor of 4 for shot noise limited performance,compared to a traditional OCT configuration using a 50/50 beam splitter. © 2011 Optical Society of America.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 7161 |
| Journal | Optics Express |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 30 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUK-C1-013-04
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to Ackowledge Dr Stephane Coen for his useful corrections. This work was supported by the NERF grant from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology from the New Zealand gouvernement. This publication is also based on work supported in part by Award No KUK-C1-013-04, made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.