Tomography imaging apparatus
View Patent ↗A tomography imaging apparatus comprises: a light source that emits light having a low interferable performance; a light irradiation optical system constituted to split the light emitted from the light source into two, irradiate one of the split light to a subject and irradiate the other one of the split light to a reference mirror; a first guiding member that guides signal light to a first light emitting end, the signal light being from the subject based on light irradiation from the light irradiation optical system; a second light guiding member that guides reference light to a second light emitting end, the reference light being from the reference mirror based on the light irradiation; and a multipixel image taking element that provides an optical intensity distribution of interfered light by the signal light emitted from the first light emitting end and the reference light emitted from the second light emitting end.
1. A tomography imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits light having a low interferable performance;
a light irradiation optical system constituted to split the light emitted from the light source into two, irradiate one of the split light to a subject and irradiate the other one of the split light a reference mirror;
a first light guiding member that splits signal light from the subject based on light irradiation from the light irradiation optical system so as to generate first signal light and second signal light and that guides the first signal light and the second signal light to a first light emitting end and a second light emitting end respectively such that the second light signal light produces a phase shift relative to the first signal light;
a second light guiding member that splits reference light from the reference mirror based on the light irradiation so as to generate first reference light and second reference light and that guides the first reference light and the second reference light to a third light emitting end and a fourth light emitting end respectively such that the second reference light produces a phase shift relative to the split first reference light;
a first multipixel image taking element that provides a first optical intensity distribution signal of interfered light by the first signal light emitted from the first light emitting end and the first reference light emitted from the third light emitting end;
a second multipixel image taking element that provides a second optical intensity distribution signal of interfered light by the second signal light emitted from the second light emitting end and the second reference light emitted from the fourth light emitting end; and
an optical intensity distribution difference constituting section that calculates a difference between the first optical intensity distribution signal and the second optical intensity distribution signal.
2. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein each of the first, second, third and fourth light emitting ends functions as a point light source, and the first, second, third and fourth light emitting ends are arranged such that an optical positional relationship of the first and third light emitting ends and the first multipixel image taking element constitute a Young's interferometer and an optical positional relationship of the second and fourth light emitting ends and the second multipixel image taking element constitutes a Young's interferometer.
3. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein each of the first light guiding member and the second light guiding member comprises optical fiber.
4. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein a first object lens is inserted between the first and third emitting ends of the first and second light conducting members and the first multipixel image taking element, and second object lens is inserted between the second and fourth emitting ends of the first and second light conducting members and the second multipixel image taking element, and
wherein a position of the first object lens is set such that a region of overlapping the first signal light from the first light emitting end and the first reference light from the third light emitting end is increased on the first multipixel image taking element, and a position of the second object lens is set such that a region of overlapping the second signal light from the second light emitting end and the second reference light from the fourth light emitting end is increased on the second multipixel image taking element.
5. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a light scanning section that scans light from the light source in a direction along a surface of the subject.
6. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reference mirror is movable in an optical axis direction of the reference mirror.
7. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first multipixel image taking element is movable in an optical axis direction of the first multipixel image taking element, and the second multipixel image taking element is movable in an optical axis direction of the second multipixel image taking element.
8. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a tomography image information calculating section that calculates to analyze tomography image information of the subject based on an output signal from the first and second multipixel image taking elements and a scanning timing of the light scanning section; and
a tomography image displaying section that displays the tomography image information provided by the tomography image information calculating section.
9. The tomography imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits light having a low interferable performance;
a light irradiation optical system constituted to split the light emitted from the light source into two, irradiate one of the split light to a subject and irradiate the other one of the split light to a reference mirror;
a first guiding member that guides signal light to a first light emitting end, the signal light being from the subject based on light irradiation from the light irradiation optical system;
a second light guiding member that guides reference light to a second light emitting end, the reference light being from the reference mirror based on the light irradiation;
a multipixel image taking element that provides an optical intensity distribution of interfered light by the signal light emitted from the first light emitting end and the reference light emitted from the second light emitting end; and
wherein the multipixel image taking element is movable in an optical axis direction of the multipixel image taking element.
10. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein each of the first and second light emitting ends functions as a point light source, and the first and second light emitting ends are arranged such that an optical positional relationship of the first and second light emitting ends and the multipixel image taking element constitutes a Young's interferometer.
11. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein each of the first light guiding member and the second light guiding member comprises optical fiber.
12. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising:
a light scanning section that scans light from the light source in a direction along a surface of the subject.
13. The tomography imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits light having a low interferable performance;
a light irradiation optical system constituted to split the light emitted from the light source into two, irradiate one of the split light to a subject and irradiate the other one of the split light to a reference mirror;
a first guiding member that guides signal light to a first light emitting end, the signal light being from the subject based on light irradiation from the light irradiation optical system;
a second light guiding member that guides reference light to a second light emitting end, the reference light being from the reference mirror based on the light irradiation;
a multipixel image taking element that provides an optical intensity distribution of interfered light by the signal light emitted from the first light emitting end and the reference light emitted from the second light emitting end; and
wherein an object lens is inserted between the first and second emitting ends of the first and second light conducting members and the multipixel image taking element, and a position of the object lens is set such that a region of overlapping the signal light from the first light emitting end and the reference light from the second light emitting end is increased on the multipixel image taking element.
14. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein each of the first and second light emitting ends functions as a point light source, and the first and second light emitting ends are arranged such that an optical positional relationship of the first and second light emitting ends and the multipixel image taking element constitutes a Young's interferometer.
15. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 13 ,
wherein each of the first light guiding member and the second light guiding member comprises optical fiber.
16. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a light scanning section that scans light from the light source in a direction along a surface of the subject.
17. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 16 , further comprising:
a tomography image information calculating section that calculates to analyze tomography image information of the subject based on an output signal from the multipixel image taking element and a scanning timing of the light scanning section; and
a tomography image displaying section that displays the tomography image information provided by the tomography image information calculating section.
18. The tomography imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits light having a low interferable performance;
a light irradiation optical system constituted to split the light emitted from the light source into two, irradiate one of the split light to a subject and irradiate the other one of the split light to a reference mirror;
a first guiding member that guides signal light to a first light emitting end, the signal light being from the subject based on light irradiation from the light irradiation optical system;
a second light guiding member that guides reference light to a second light emitting end, the reference light being from the reference mirror based on the light irradiation;
a multipixel image taking element that provides an optical intensity distribution of interfered light by the signal light emitted from the first light emitting end and the reference light emitted from the second light emitting end; and
wherein the reference mirror is movable in an optical axis direction of the reference mirror.
19. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein each of the first and second light emitting ends functions as a point light source, and the first and second light emitting ends are arranged such that an optical positional relationship of the first and second light emitting ends and the multipixel image taking element constitutes a Young's interferometer.
20. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein each of the first light guiding member and the second light guiding member comprises optical fiber.
21. The tomography imaging apparatus according to claim 18 , further comprising:
a light scanning section that scans light from the light source in a direction along a surface of the subject.