Speckle-Reduced Optical Coherence Tomography Using a Tunable Quasi-Supercontinuum Source

Optical coherence tomography (OCT), which has long been used for fine-scale structure imaging with higher resolution, larger penetration depth, and more detailed information, is a fast-growing technique for biological tissue imaging. However, speckle is an inherent property in OCT, appearing as brig...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ying Chen, Masahito Yamanaka, Norihiko Nishizawa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-12-01
Series:Photonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/12/1338
Description
Summary:Optical coherence tomography (OCT), which has long been used for fine-scale structure imaging with higher resolution, larger penetration depth, and more detailed information, is a fast-growing technique for biological tissue imaging. However, speckle is an inherent property in OCT, appearing as bright and dark granular patterns, and hinders the visibility of the fine-scale structure. For the first time, we demonstrated speckle-reduced high-resolution imaging using a tunable quasi-supercontinuum (SC) source. OCT images with uncorrelated speckle patterns could be obtained by several quasi-SC spectra and compounded to improve the image quality. We confirmed that the implementation of a quasi-SC source enables us to reduce speckle noise for better observation of fine-scale structure.
ISSN:2304-6732