Portable optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems

1. An ophthalmic optical coherence tomography (OCT) system, the system comprising:

an OCT engine including optics and electronics configured to acquire data used to generate OCT images of a subject; and

a portable housing including a portable scanning interface device in communication with the OCT engine, the portable scanning interface comprising:

at least one mirror configured to scan light in at least two non-co-planar directions; and

at least one lens set coupled to the at least one mirror and configured to receive light from the at least one mirror, to focus the received light onto a structure of an eye of the subject, and to receive light that is scattered or reflected from the structure of the eye;

an optical fiber connecting the housing including the portable scanning interface device to the OCT engine, the optical fiber being configured to guide light from the OCT engine to the portable scanning interface device;

means for aligning the housing including the portable scanning interface device to the structure of the eye without using a chinrest to stabilize the subject;

means for controlling spacing between the portable interface device and the structure of the eye without using a chinrest to stabilize the subject;

means for setting acquisition parameters for imaging the structure of the eye; and

means for acquiring three dimensional OCT image data of the structure of the eye in real-time.

2. The OCT system of claim 1 , wherein the portable scanning interface device comprises a non-contact probe that does not make physical contact with the sample and wherein the non-contact probe further comprises a first lens set configured for the non-contact probe.

3. The OCT system of claim 1 , wherein the portable scanning interface device comprises a contact probe configured to make physical contact with the sample and wherein the contact probe further comprises a second lens set configured for the contact probe.

4. The OCT system of claim 1 , further comprising a display in the portable housing integrated with the portable scanning interface device such that the portable scanning interface device and the integrated display are configured to communicate with the OCT engine.

5. The OCT system of claim 1 , wherein the portable scanning interface device further comprises an integrated user interface in the portable housing configured to control an operation of the portable scanning interface device in communication with the OCT engine.

6. The OCT system of claim 5 , wherein the operation comprises at least one of triggering an image acquisition, controlling a scan pattern, controlling a scan rate, and controlling an image processing option, the user interface comprising:

an image acquisition trigger configured to acquire images of the sample; and

at least one control configured to adjust a scan pattern, a scan range, a scan rate and/or image processing options.

7. The OCT system of claim 5 , wherein a display is configured to illustrate at least one of a real time image of the sample, a saved image of the sample, a system option, a system mode, and a system error message.

8. The OCT system of claim 5 , wherein an integrated display is configured to be mounted perpendicular to the side of the portable scanning interface device, fold out from the side of the portable scanning interface device, or be mounted to the back of the portable scanning interface device.

9. The OCT system of claim 1 :

wherein the portable scanning interface device is configured to receive one of the at least two lens sets;

wherein at least one of the at least two lens set is configured to image a retina; and

wherein at least one of the at least two lens set is configured to image a cornea.

10. The OCT system of claim 1 :

wherein the portable scanning interface device is configured to receive one of the at least two lens sets;

wherein at least one of the at least two lens set is configured to image a sample without making physical contact with the sample; and

wherein at least one of the at least two lens set is configured to image a sample with making physical contact with the sample.

11. The OCT system of claim 1 :

wherein the means for controlling spacing between the portable interface device and the structure of the eye without using a chinrest to stabilize the subject comprises a counterbalanced mechanical boom arm to which the portable interface device is mounted.