Combined reflectance confocal microscopy-optical coherence tomography system for imaging of biological tissue

1. A dual-modality imaging apparatus comprising:

a reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) imaging apparatus comprising a RCM source;

an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging apparatus comprising an OCT source;

a dichroic mirror configured to

(1) reflect, using a first surface, a first beam of light provided by the RCM source toward a sample;

(2) pass a second beam of light provided by the OCT source through a second surface toward a sample, such that the first beam of light and second beam of light share at least a portion of an imaging path;

(3) reflect, using the first surface, a first light returning from the sample and direct the first light returning from the sample to the RCM imaging apparatus for imaging; and

(4) pass, through the first surface, a second light returning from the sample to the OCT imaging apparatus for imaging; and

an imaging objective having a numerical aperture that is (a) underutilized in the OCT mode to permit imaging depths of greater than one millimeter, and (b) fully utilized in the RCM mode to permit high-resolution imaging, the dual-modality imaging apparatus thereby able to co-register the RCM and OCT images to permit simultaneous acquisition and display of RCM and OCT images,

wherein underutilizing the numerical aperture in the OCT mode means utilizing between 6.7% and 10.7% of the numerical aperture in the OCT mode.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a mirror that reflects the first beam of light toward a dichroic mirror component and reflects the first returning light toward the RCM imaging apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the imaging objective has a numerical aperture of 0.8 to 1.0.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the imaging objective further comprises a broadband coating configured to pass light in the range of 800 nm and 1400 nm.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first beam of light fully utilizes the numerical aperture of the imaging objective.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first beam of light has a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nanometers.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second beam of light has a wavelength of 1200 to 1400 nanometers.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the OCT imaging apparatus is a polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) imaging apparatus.

9. A method of imaging a sample of biological tissue, comprising:

providing a first light signal generated by a reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) source and a second light signal generated by an optical coherence tomography (OCT) source;

delivering, via a common optical path including an imaging objective having a numerical aperture, the first light signal and the second light signal to the sample, the numerical aperture (a) fully utilized by the RCM source, and (b) underutilized by the OCT source to permit imaging depths of greater than one millimeter;

detecting a third light signal from the sample with a RCM imager and a fourth light signal from the sample with an OCT imager; and

generating a RCM image based on the third light signal and an OCT image based on the fourth light signal, the method enabling simultaneous acquisition and display of RCM and OCT images,

wherein underutilizing the numerical aperture in the OCT mode means utilizing between 6.7% and 10.7% of the numerical aperture in the OCT mode.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying the RCM image and the OCT image simultaneously.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the OCT imager is a polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) imager.

12. A method of imaging a sample of biological tissue, comprising:

combining an optical path of a reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) imager and an optical path of a polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT) imager using a dichroic mirror and an imaging objective having a numerical aperture of 0.8 to 1.0,

wherein the numerical aperture is (a) underutilized by a light beam provided the OCT imager to permit imaging depths of greater than one millimeter, and (b) fully utilized by a light beam provided by the RCM imager;

detecting a first light signal from the sample with the RCM imager and a second light signal from the sample with the OCT imager; and

generating a RCM image of the sample using the first light signal and an OCT image of the sample using the second light signal, the RCM and OCT images spatially co-registered and displayed simultaneously,

wherein underutilizing the numerical aperture in the OCT mode means utilizing between 6.7% and 10.7% of the numerical aperture in the OCT mode.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the image acquired from the RCM imager is an image showing nuclear, cellular or sub-cellular details of the sample.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the image acquired from the OCT imager shows dermal and epidermal layers of human skin in the reflectance mode and a dermal-epidermal junction region in the polarization sensitive mode.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising diagnosing at least one skin or oral tissue condition.

16. A method of imaging a sample of biological tissue, comprising:

delivering to the sample, via a common optical path including an imaging objective having a numerical aperture of 0.8 to 1.0, a reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) light beam and a polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT) light beam, the numerical aperture (a) underutilized by the OCT light beam to permit imaging depths of greater than one millimeter, and (b) fully utilized by the RCM light beam, wherein underutilizing the numerical aperture in the OCT mode means utilizing between 6.7% and 10.7% of the numerical aperture in the OCT mode;

receiving, using a RCM detector, a first light signal from the sample, the detector providing an electrical signal responsive to the first light signal at each of a plurality of locations along the detector, the electrical signal indicative of a RCM image of the sample;

receiving, using an OCT interferometer, a second light signal from the sample, the OCT interferometer combining the second light signal returning from the sample with a reference signal and producing an interference signal indicative of an OCT image of the sample;

generating a RCM image of the sample based on the first electrical signal; and

generating an OCT image of the sample based on the interference signal,

the RCM and OCT images co-registered or displayed simultaneously.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising displaying the RCM and OCT images.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the OCT image is based on two orthogonal polarization states of the interference signal.

19. The method of claim 9 further comprising diagnosing a skin cancer using the RCM and OCT images.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein diagnosing a skin cancer is based on morphological details shown by the RCM image at a location in a dermal-epidermal junction shown by the OCT image.

21. The method of claim 12 further comprising diagnosing a cancerous condition of skin using the RCM and OCT images.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein diagnosing a cancerous condition of skin is based on cellular details of tissue morphology at or near a dermal-epidermal junction region of skin.

23. The method of claim 16 further comprising diagnosing skin cancer using the RCM and OCT images.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein diagnosing skin cancer is based on nuclear or cellular details shown by the RCM image at or near a dermal-epidermal junction region of skin shown by the OCT image.

25. The method of claim 16 wherein the RCM image has a lateral resolution of at least 1 micron.

26. The method of claim 16 wherein an OCT imaging depth is at least 1 mm.