High-speed spectral-domain optical coherence tomography at 13 μm wavelength

Abstract
We demonstrate a high-speed spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system capable of acquiring individual axial scans in 24.4 µs at a rate of 19,000 axial scans per second, using an InGaAs line scan camera and broadband light source centered at 1.31 µm. Sensitivity of >105 dB over a 2-mm depth range was obtained with a free-space axial resolution of 12–14 µm, in agreement with our signal-to-noise ratio predictions. Images of human tissue obtained in vivo with SD-OCT show similar penetration depths to those obtained with state-of-the-art time domain OCT despite the ten-fold higher image acquisition speed. These results demonstrate the potential of 1.3 µm SD-OCT for high-speed and high-sensitivity imaging in patients.