OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEMS AND METHODS

摘要

An optical coherence tomography system may have a reflector system that reflects light from a light source to provide a plurality of light rays that fall within different wavelength ranges, optical componentry that directs a subset of a first beam of light including the plurality of light rays to an object to be imaged, a detector that detects the subset after reflection from the object, and signal processing componentry that processes signals from the detector to provide an optical coherence tomography image of the object. The reflector system may be configured such that the optical pathways followed by the light rays change in length at an even increment, so that the first beam of light will project wavelength groups at relatively even time increments. The optical pathways may be collinear or offset from each other. An interleaver may be used to enable detection of the first beam by multiple detectors.

主权项

1. An optical coherence tomography system comprising:
a light source that projects light; a first reflector system positioned to receive the light and reflect a first plurality of light rays of the light, the first plurality of light rays comprising:
a first light ray emitted along a first optical pathway, wherein the first light ray falls substantially within a first wavelength range;a second light ray emitted along a second optical pathway, wherein the second light ray falls generally within a second wavelength range that does not overlap with the first wavelength range; anda third light ray emitted along a third optical pathway, wherein the third light ray falls generally within a third wavelength range that does not overlap with the first wavelength range and does not overlap with the second wavelength range; wherein the first reflector system is positioned such that the first optical pathway, the second optical pathway, and the third optical pathway converge to define a first beam of light and the second optical pathway is longer than the first optical pathway by a first optical pathway differential and the third optical pathway is longer than the second optical pathway by a second optical pathway differential substantially equal to the first optical pathway differential; optical componentry that directs a subset of the first beam of light at an object to be imaged; a first detector that detects the subset after reflection of the subset from the object to provide signals; and signal processing componentry that processes the signals to provide an optical coherence tomography image of the object.