Exploring Frequency Domain OCT Systems

Frequency domain optical coherence tomography allows for in-vivo nondestructive imaging at speeds two orders of magnitude faster than time domain methods while increasing the signal to noise ratio. These benefits are the result of acquiring information on all scatterers in a depth scan all the time. We explore methods of maintaining depth resolution through dispersion compensation and lateral resolution and signal to noise ratio through slab-based OCT and Bessel beams, and we examine methods of resolving the complex conjugate ambiguity. We investigate ISAM and its ability to dynamically refocus data in software, and look at ways of maintaining the phase stability necessary for motion sensitivity. We calculate what specifications a hypothetical instrument would have compared to our current designs.