Patent ID: 7701585

Claim:
An optical tomograph, comprising: a light source unit for emitting a light beam; light dividing means, for dividing the light beam emitted from the light source unit into a measuring light beam and a reference light beam; scanning means, for scanning and irradiating the measuring light beam onto a measurement target at a predetermined scanning frequency; combining means, for combining a reflected light beam, which is the measuring light beam reflected by the measurement target when scanned thereon, and the reference light beam; interference light detecting means, for detecting an interference light beam, which is formed by the reflected light beam and the reference light beam being combined by the combining means; image obtaining means, for detecting the intensity of the reflected light beam at a plurality of depth positions within the measurement target, based on the wavelength and intensity of the interference light beam detected by the interference light detecting means, and obtaining a tomographic image of the measurement target based on the intensities of the reflected light beam; and depolarizing means, for varying the polarization state of light beams input thereto at a frequency equivalent to or higher than the scanning frequency, such that the light beam output therefrom becomes depolarized when averaged over time, provided in at least one of the following locations: within the light source unit; along the optical path of the light beam emitted from the light source unit between the light source unit and the combining means; along the optical path of the measuring light beam; along the optical path of the reference light beam; and along the optical path of the reflected light beam.