Limits to performance improvement provided by balanced interferometers and balanced detection in OCT/OCM instruments

David Liao; Adam E. Pivonka; Brendan R. Haberle; Daniel C. Petersen; Barbara M. Hoeling; Richard C. Haskell

doi:10.1117/12.529813

1 July 2004 Limits to performance improvement provided by balanced interferometers and balanced detection in OCT/OCM instruments

David Liao, Adam E. Pivonka, Brendan R. Haberle, Daniel C. Petersen, Barbara M. Hoeling, Richard C. Haskell

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5316, Coherence Domain Optical Methods and Optical Coherence Tomography in Biomedicine VIII; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.529813
Event: Biomedical Optics 2004, 2004, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We compare the dynamic range of OCT/OCM instruments configured with unbalanced interferometers, e.g., Michelson interferometers, with that of instruments utilizing balanced interferometers and balanced photodetection. We define the dynamic range (DR) as the ratio of the maximum fringe amplitude achieved with a highly reflecting surface to the root-mean-square (rms) noise. Balanced systems achieve a dynamic range 2.5 times higher than that of a Michelson interferometer, enabling an image acquisition speed roughly 6 times faster. This maximum improvement occurs at light source powers of a few milliwatts. At light source powers higher than 30 mW, the advantage in acquisition speed of balanced systems is reduced to a factor of 4. For video-rate imaging, the increased cost and complexity of a balanced system may be outweighed by the factor of 4 to 6 enhancement in image acquisition speed. We include in our analysis the "beat-noise" resulting from incoherent light backscattered from the sample, which reduces the advantage of balanced systems. We attempt to resolve confusion surrounding the origin and magnitude of "beat-noise", first described by L. Mandel in 1962. Beat-noise is present in both balanced and unbalanced OCT/OCM instruments.

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David Liao, Adam E. Pivonka, Brendan R. Haberle, Daniel C. Petersen, Barbara M. Hoeling, and Richard C. Haskell "Limits to performance improvement provided by balanced interferometers and balanced detection in OCT/OCM instruments", Proc. SPIE 5316, Coherence Domain Optical Methods and Optical Coherence Tomography in Biomedicine VIII, (1 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.529813

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KEYWORDS

Light sources

Michelson interferometers

Optical coherence tomography

Interferometers

Sensors

Photons

Image acquisition

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