Apparatus and methods for high-speed and long depth range imaging using optical coherence tomography
Exemplary apparatus can be provided which can include a laser arrangement that is configured to provide a laser radiation, and including an optical cavity. The optical cavity can include a dispersive optical waveguide first arrangement having first and second sides, and which is configured to (i) receive at least one first electro-magnetic radiation at the first side so as to provide at least one second electro-magnetic radiation, and (ii) to receive at least one third electro-magnetic radiation at the second side so as to provide at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation. The first and second sides are different from one another, and the second and third radiations are related to one another. The optical cavity can also include an active optical modulator second arrangement which can be configured to receive and modulate the fourth radiation so as to provide the first electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement. The laser radiation can be associated with at least one of the first, second, third or fourth radiations.
1 . An apparatus, comprising:
a laser arrangement which is configured to provide a laser radiation, and including an optical cavity which comprises:
a dispersive optical waveguide first arrangement having first and second sides, and which is configured to
(i) receive at least one first electro-magnetic radiation at the first side so as to provide at least one second electro-magnetic radiation, and
(ii) to receive at least one third electro-magnetic radiation at the second side so as to provide at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation, wherein the first and second sides are different from one another, and wherein the second and third radiations are related to one another,
an active optical modulator second arrangement which is configured to receive and modulate the fourth radiation so as to provide the first electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
a further active optical modulator fourth arrangement which is configured to:
receive and modulate the second radiation so as to provide the at least one third electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
suppress a light radiation that travels through the first arrangement, which is different from the at least one second radiation,
wherein the laser radiation is associated with at least one of the first, second, third or fourth radiations.
2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first arrangement is at least one of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), a chirped FBG, or a FBG array.
3 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the FBG is provided in at least one of a polarization maintaining optical fiber or a non-polarization maintaining optical fiber.
4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first arrangement is configured to cause a group delay that varies linearly with an optical frequency of at least one of the first radiation or the third radiation.
5 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first arrangement includes at least one of (i) at least one first circulator which receives the first radiation at a first port of the first circulator, transmits the first radiation from a second port of the first circulator, receives the second radiation at the second port of the first circulator, and transmits the second radiation from a third port of the first circulator, or (ii) at least one second circulator which receives the third radiation at a first port of the second circulator, transmits the third radiation from a second port of the second circulator, receives the fourth radiation at the second port of the second circulator, and transmits the fourth radiation from a third port of the second circulator.
6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical cavity includes at least one optical amplifier third arrangement which is configured to amplify at least one of the first radiation, the second radiation, the third radiation or the fourth radiation.
7 . The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the optical amplifier arrangement includes at least one of a semiconductor amplifier, a Raman amplifier, a parametric optical amplifier, or a fiber amplifier.
8 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the further active optical modulator fourth arrangement is a further active optical amplifier arrangement.
9 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical cavity includes a dispersion compensating arrangement.
10 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical cavity includes a fixed periodic spectral filter arrangement.
11 . The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the fixed periodic spectral filter arrangement includes at least one of (i) a Fabry-Perot etalon filter that has a finesse that is between 3 and 25, or (ii) an optical interleaver.
12 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the laser radiation has a wavelength that changes over time.
13 . The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the wavelength changes continuously over time.
14 . The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the wavelength changes discretely over time.
15 . The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the actions by the first and second arrangements cause the wavelength to change at a rate that is faster than 80 nanometers per microsecond (nm/μs).
16 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first arrangement includes a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) that is provided in a polarization maintaining optical waveguide, and wherein the first radiation is launched along a first birefringent axis of the optical waveguide, and wherein the third radiation is launched along a second birefringent axis of the optical waveguide, and wherein the first and second birefringent axes are different from one another.
17 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second electro-magnetic radiation is a reflection of the first electro-magnetic radiation, and wherein the fourth electro-magnetic radiation is a reflection of the third electro-magnetic radiation.
18 . An apparatus, comprising:
a laser arrangement which is configured to provide a laser radiation, and including an optical cavity which comprises:
a dispersive first arrangement which is configured to receive at least one first electro-magnetic radiation so as to provide at least one second electro-magnetic radiation,
a dispersive second arrangement which is configured to receive at least one third electro-magnetic radiation so as to provide at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation, and wherein the second and third radiations are related to one another,
an active optical modulator second arrangement which is configured to receive and modulate the fourth radiation so as to provide the at least one first electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and wherein the laser radiation is associated with at least one of the first, second, third or fourth radiations, and
a further active optical modulator fourth arrangement which is configured to:
receive and modulate the second radiation so as to provide the at least one third electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
suppress a light radiation that travels through the first arrangement, which is different from the at least one second radiation;
an interferometer arrangement which is configured to generate:
i. a fifth electromagnetic radiation from the laser radiation in a sample arm,
ii. a sixth electro-magnetic radiation from the laser radiation in a reference arm, and
iii. an interference signal based on an interference between the fifth electromagnetic radiation and the sixth electro-magnetic radiation;
a beam scanning arrangement configured to scan the fifth electro-magnetic radiation across at least one portion of at least one sample,
wherein an interaction between the laser arrangement, the interferometer arrangement, and the beam scanning arrangement provides a three-dimensional measurement of an optical property of the at least one portion of the at least one sample;
an analog-to-digital acquisition arrangement configured to obtain the interference signal based on an electronic clock signal; and
an electronic signal generator configured to drive the second arrangement, wherein the electronic clock signal is phase-locked to the electronic signal generator.
19 . The apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the first and second arrangements are part of the same fiber Bragg grating.
20 . The apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the laser radiation is an optical frequency comb.
21 . A method for displaying a video stream regarding at least one structure, comprising:
a) measuring four-dimensional interferometric data regarding different portions of at least one structure at different points in time, wherein the four-dimensional data describes at least one optical property of the at least one structure,
wherein step (a) is performed using a laser arrangement which is configured to provide a laser radiation, and including an optical cavity which comprises:
a dispersive optical waveguide first arrangement having first and second sides, and which is configured to receive and disperse (i) at least one first electromagnetic radiation received at the first side so as to provide at least one second electro-magnetic radiation, and (ii) at least one third electro-magnetic radiation received at the second side so as to provide at least one fourth electromagnetic radiation, wherein the first and second sides are different from one another, and wherein the second and third radiations are related to one another,
an active optical modulator second arrangement which is configured to receive and modulate the fourth radiation so as to provide the at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
a further active optical modulator fourth arrangement which is configured to:
receive and modulate the second radiation so as to provide the at least one third electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
suppress a light radiation that travels through the first arrangement, which is different from the at least one second radiation;
wherein the laser radiation is associated with at least one of the first, second, third or fourth radiations;
b) transforming the four-dimensional interferometric data into two-dimensional video data; and
c) displaying the video stream of the different portions of the at least one structure using the two-dimensional video data, wherein a latency of a performance of the measurement and the display is less than 1 second.
22 . The method according to claim 21 , wherein step (a) is performed using a frequency comb optical source.
23 . A method for displaying a video stream regarding at least one structure, comprising:
a) measuring four-dimensional interferometric data regarding different portions of at least one structure at different points in time, wherein the four-dimensional data describes at least one optical property of the at least one structure, wherein the four-dimensional interferometric data is circularly wrapped in a particular spatial dimension;
b) with a computer, transforming the four-dimensional interferometric data into two-dimensional video data by compressing the particular spatial dimension; and
c) displaying the video stream of the different portions of the at least one structure using the two-dimensional video data;
wherein step (a) is performed using a laser arrangement which is configured to provide a laser radiation, and including an optical cavity which comprises:
a dispersive optical waveguide first arrangement having first and second sides, and which is configured to receive and disperse (i) at least one first electromagnetic radiation received at the first side so as to provide at least one second electro-magnetic radiation, and (ii) at least one third electro-magnetic radiation received at the second side so as to provide at least one fourth electromagnetic radiation, wherein the first and second sides are different from one another, and wherein the second and third radiations are related to one another, and
an active optical modulator second arrangement which is configured to receive and modulate the fourth radiation so as to provide the at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
a further active optical modulator fourth arrangement which is configured to:
receive and modulate the second radiation so as to provide the at least one third electromagnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
suppress a light radiation that travels through the first arrangement, which is different from the at least one second radiation;
wherein the laser radiation is associated with at least one of the first, second, third or fourth radiations.
24 . The method according to claim 23 , wherein the compression includes (i) locating a position of a surface of the at least one structure within the four-dimensional interferometric data, and (ii) controlling the compression using the position.
25 . A computer-accessible medium including software thereon for displaying a video stream regarding at least one structure, wherein, when the computer executes the software, the computer is configured to perform procedures comprising:
a) measuring four-dimensional interferometric data regarding different portions of at least one structure at different points in time, wherein the four-dimensional data describes at least one optical property of the at least one structure,
wherein step (a) is performed using a laser arrangement which is configured to provide a laser radiation, and including an optical cavity which comprises:
a dispersive optical waveguide first arrangement having first and second sides, and which is configured to receive and disperse (i) at least one first electromagnetic radiation received at the first side so as to provide at least one second electro-magnetic radiation, and (ii) at least one third electro-magnetic radiation received at the second side so as to provide at least one fourth electromagnetic radiation, wherein the first and second sides are different from one another, and wherein the second and third radiations are related to one another,
an active optical modulator second arrangement which is configured to receive and modulate the fourth radiation so as to provide the at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
a further active optical modulator fourth arrangement which is configured to:
receive and modulate the second radiation so as to provide the at least one third electro-magnetic radiation to the first arrangement, and
suppress a light radiation that travels through the first arrangement, which is different from the at least one second radiation,
wherein the laser radiation is associated with at least one of the first, second, third or fourth radiations;
b) with a computer, transforming the four-dimensional interferometric data into two-dimensional video data; and
c) displaying the video stream of the different portions of the at least one structure using the two-dimensional video data, wherein a latency of a performance of the measurement and the display is less than 1 second.