Patent ID: 8330962

Claim:
A system for optical coherence tomography comprising: an interferometer which has a beam splitter and at least one reflector the optical distance of which from the beam splitter can be changed at a speed, light being injected into the interferometer and light being emitted by the interferometer with which a specimen is irradiated, and a detector system having a detector for collecting light which is reflected by the specimen and impinges on the detector, the detector system having a sensitivity to the light reflected by the specimen, wherein the sensitivity of the detector system to the light reflected by the specimen and impinging on the detector is modulated with a modulation frequency, with the light reflected by the specimen and impinging on the detector being superposed with the modulated sensitivity of the detector system, the interference pattern impinging on the detector producing a low-frequency beat signal having fewer periods than a high-frequency interference signal, wherein the modulation frequency is not equal to the Doppler frequency which is given by twice the ratio of the speed of the change of the optical distance between the reflector and the beam splitter to the average wavelength of the injected light, and wherein the modulation frequency is equal to or greater than 1.2 times the ratio of the speed of the change of the optical distance between the reflector and the beam splitter to the average wavelength of the injected light or equal to or smaller than 2.8 times the ratio of the speed of the change of the optical distance between the reflector and the beam splitter to the average wavelength of the injected light.