Patent ID: 11933610
Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 18:
19. A swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) apparatus comprising:
a plurality of wavelength-tunable light sources, wherein each of the plurality of wavelength-tunable light sources is configured to receive a corresponding control signal of a plurality of control signals;
a first optical coupler configured to receive an output from each of the plurality of wavelength-tunable light sources, wherein the first optical coupler is configured to split the received output from each of the plurality of wavelength-tunable light sources into:
a reference optical path configured to illuminate a reference optical surface, and
a sample optical path configured to illuminate a sample;

a return reference optical path configured to receive reflected light from the reference optical surface;
a return sample optical path configured to receive backscattered light from the sample;
a second optical coupler configured to interfere an output of the return reference optical path with an output of the return sample optical path to generate an optical interference signal;
a detector configured to detect the optical interference signal; and
a controller configured to receive an electrical signal based on the detected optical interference signal and generate an interference signal vector based on the received electrical signal, wherein the controller is configured to:
generate a depth profile vector of the sample based on the interference signal vector using compressed sensing, and
generate the plurality of control signals,

wherein center wavelengths of the plurality of wavelength-tunable light sources are chosen such that mutual coherence of a transform matrix that transforms the depth profile vector to the interference signal vector is minimized.