Patent ID: 8817269

Claim:
An optical coherence tomography (OCT) system, said OCT system comprising: a light source arranged to generate a beam of radiation; an optical path for transmitting the beam from the source to a sample, said path including an elongated optical waveguide having a chirped Bragg grating reflector formed integrally with the waveguide and being located near the end of the waveguide closest to the sample and arranged for reflecting a portion of the beam prior to reaching the sample and wherein said grating reflector imparts a phase ramp to the reflected beam, said phase ramp being selected to create a virtual reference surface located beyond the end of the waveguide and closer to the sample; optics for scanning the portion of the beam not reflected by the grating reflector over a set of transverse locations on the sample; a detector for measuring radiation returning from both the sample and the grating reflector, the detector generating output signals in response thereto; and a processor for converting the output signals into image data.