Polarization-sensitive Spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography Using a Single Line Scan Camera References and Links

Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography can be used to measure the birefringence of biological tissue such as the human retina. Previous measurements with a time-domain polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography system revealed that the birefringence of the human retinal nerve fiber layer is not constant, but varies as a function of location around the optic nerve head. Here we present a spectral-domain polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography system that uses a spectrometer configuration with a single line scan camera and a Wollaston prism in the detection arm. Since only one camera has to be synchronized with other components in the system, the design is simplified considerably. This system is 60 times faster than a time-domain polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography system. Data was acquired using concentric circular scans around the optic nerve head of a young healthy volunteer and the acquisition time for 12 circular scans was reduced from 72 s to 1.2 s. The acquired data sets demonstrate variations in retinal thickness and double pass phase retardation per unit depth that were similar to data from the same volunteer taken with a time-domain polarization-sensitive system. The double pass phase retardation per unit depth of the retinal nerve fiber layer varied between 0.18 and 0.40 degrees/μm, equivalent to a birefringence of 2.2 ⋅ 10-4 and 4.8 ⋅ 10-4 respectively, measured at 840 nm.Measurement of intraocular distances by backscattering spectral interferometry," Opt.Polarization-sensitive low-coherence reflectometer for birefringence characterization and ranging," J.Two-dimensional birefringence imaging in biological tissue by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography," Opt.Determination of the depth-resolved Stokes parameters of light backscattered from turbid media by use of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography,"High-speed fiber-based polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography of in vivo human skin," Opt.matrix imaging of biological tissues with quadruple-channel optical coherence tomography," J.In vivo depth-resolved birefringence measurements of the human retinal nerve fiber layer by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography," Opt.Thickness and birefringence of healthy retinal nerve fiber layer tissue measured with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography," Invest.Variation of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer birefringence in normal human subjects," Invest.In vivo human retinal imaging by Fourier domain optical coherence tomography," J.Performance of fourier domain vs. time domain optical coherence tomography," Opt.Improved signal-to-noise ratio in spectral-domain compared with time-domain optical coherence tomography," Opt. Lett.Sensitivity advantage of swept source and Fourier domain optical coherence tomography," Opt.Birefringence imaging of human skin by polarization-sensitive spectral interferometric optical coherence tomography," Opt. "Real-time fiber-based multi-functional spectral-domain optical coherence tomography at 1.3 mu m,"High speed spectral domain …