Optical coherence tomography system and method

1. A method of analysis of a sample, including the steps of:

(a) splitting an input optical beam into a probe beam and reference beam;

(b) utilizing the probe beam to interrogate a sample and obtaining a return sample beam therefrom;

(c) manipulating the reference beam into a predetermined polarization state;

(d) polarization mixing the return sample beam and reference beam producing a series of polarization mixed beams; and

(e) analyzing the polarization components of the series of mixed beams.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said mixing step further includes the steps of:

dividing the reference beam into substantially polarization orthogonal reference components;

dividing the return sample beam into substantially polarization orthogonal return sample components; and

mixing the reference components with the sample components to produce a series of mixed beams.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said mixing includes obtaining sum and difference components of the mixed reference components.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said substantially polarization orthogonal reference components comprise horizontal and vertical components.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said analyzing step includes outputting the quadrature signal components of the combination of the probe and reference beam.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said splitting step further comprises splitting the input optical beam into a triggering beam and said analyzing step further comprises utilizing the triggering beam to initiate sampling of the polarization components.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 further including monitoring one or more characteristics of said input optical beam and selectively modifying said polarization mixed beams in response to said monitoring.

8. An optical signal analysis system comprising:

an optical source for projecting an input optical beam;

a beam splitter interconnected to the optical source for splitting the input optical beam into a probe beam and reference beam;

a sampling unit for utilizing the probe beam to interrogate a sample and obtain a return probe beam therefrom;

a length matching unit for correlating the reference beam path length with the return probe beam path length;

a polarization manipulation unit for manipulating the polarization state of the correlated reference beam into a predetermined polarization state; and

a polarization analysis unit for polarization mixing substantially orthogonal polarization components of the correlated reference beam with the return probe beam.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said polarization manipulation unit and said polarization analysis unit are integrated within a coherent optical receiver unit.

10. A system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said polarization analysis unit is configured to:

divide the reference beam into substantially polarization orthogonal reference components;

divide the return probe beam into substantially polarization orthogonal return probe components; and

mix the reference components with the probe components to produce a series of mixed beams.

11. A system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the polarization analysis unit obtains sum and difference components of the mixed reference components.

12. A system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said polarization analysis unit outputs the quadrature signal components of the combination of the probe and reference beam.

13. A system as claimed in claim 8 further including a second beam splitter for splitting the input optical beam into a triggering beam and said polarization analysis unit utilizes the triggering beam to initiate sampling of the polarization components.

14. A system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said probe and reference beams are propagated along optical paths that are free of waveguides.

15. A receiver for an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) system, said receiver comprising:

a first input port for receiving an OCT probe beam reflected from a sample;

a second input port for receiving an OCT reference beam transmitted along an optical path substantially matched to the probe beam optical path;

a polarization manipulation unit for:

dividing said reference beam into substantially polarization orthogonal reference components; and

dividing said probe beam into substantially polarization orthogonal probe components; and

an analysis unit for polarization mixing reference and probe components to produce a series of mixed output beams.

16. A receiver as claimed in claim 15 wherein said analysis unit is a fiber coupled coherent receiver.

17. A receiver as claimed in claim 15 wherein said analysis unit includes:

a first mixer for mixing a first orthogonal reference component with a first orthogonal probe polarization component to provide a first mixed signal;

a second mixer for mixing a second orthogonal reference component with a second orthogonal probe polarization component to provide a second mixed signal; and

an analyser for analysing said first and second mixed signals to determine the polarization or phase information in the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) probe beam.

18. A receiver as claimed in claim 17 wherein said analyser includes:

a splitter for splitting the power of the first mixed signal into at least a first and second mixed sub-signals;

a delay element for delaying one orthogonal polarization component of the first sub-signal relative to the second component by pi/2 radians to produce a phase delayed first sub-signal; and

a dividing unit for dividing the phase delayed first sub signal into orthogonal components and the second mixed sub-signal into orthogonal components.

19. A receiver as claimed in claim 15 wherein said mixed output beams include the following four quadrature phase mixed beams in a first x polarization state:

E x z +E x R ,E x z −E x R ,E x z +iE x R ,E x z +iE x R ;

and the following four quadrature phase mixed beams in a second in a second y polarization state:

E y s +E y R ,E y s −E y R ,E y s +iE y R ,E y s +iE y R ;

where E represents an electric field strength, R indicates a reference signal component and S indicates a probe signal component.

20. A receiver as claimed in claim 19 including four balanced photodetectors, each configured for simultaneously receiving a corresponding quadrature phase beam of each polarization state.