Optical coherence tomography-

basic principles
Project presentation as a part of the
Graduate Summer School:
BioPhotonics 03
Ann Johansson
Lund Institute of Technology
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been developed
during the last 20 years. Applications include medical
diagnostics.
Now a days the resolution is approaching that of histology.
Some of its advantages are that it can be used in situ, no
excision of the tissue investigated is needed and the
method favours the use of endoscopes.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Basic scheme of time-domain OCT
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Interference is only achieved when the arm
lengths are within the coherence length of the light source.
Therefore, the bandwidth of the light source limits the
depth resolution.
Assuming infinite coherence length in a Michelson interferometer:
Figure taken from Ref. 3.
Introducing a finite coherence length limits the depth range over
which the backscattered light interferes with light from the reference arm:
Figure taken from Ref. 3.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Resulting interferogram
assuming two distinct
scatterers.
)) ( ) ( Re( 2 ) ( h
Source SR
G =
) ( h
) (
Source

:detected signal
:sample response
:source coherence
function
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light source
Functional OCT
d
f
x

4
=
Diffraction limited transverse resolution:
Yet another advantage with OCT is that the transverse
resolution is independent of the axial resolution.
The axial (or depth) resolution is set by the bandwidth of the
light source. Assuming a Gaussian amplitude spectrum the
coherence length, l
c
, and thus the depth resolution, z, is
related to the bandwidth, , according to the following formula:

= = =

2
2 ln 2
2
2 ln 2
1
2 ln 2
c
c
l z
c f
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Choice of wavelength
Absorption of some tissue molecules and of the aorta.
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Light sources for OCT emit within the optical window
600-1300 nm.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Examples of light sources used in OCT:
Light source
Emission
wavelength
(nm)
Coherence
length (m)
Bandwidth
(nm)
Super
Luminescent
Diode, SLD
930 6 70
Ti:Sapphire laser 810 1.5 260
Photonic crystal
fibre, PCF
725 0.75 370
Spectral shaping: Since the signal depends on the Fourier
transform of the power spectrum it is not only important to
have a spectrally broad light source but also a smooth spectrum
without satellites.
Xenon
arc lamp
Superlumin-
escent diode
Photonic
crystal fibre
Choice of bandwidth
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
SLD, a bandwidth of 30 nm
yields a depth resolution of
10 m.
Ti:Al
2
O
3
, a bandwidth of 260 nm
yields a depth resolution of
3 m.
In vivo mapping of retinal layers
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Influence of source bandwidth on resolution
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT)
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Polarisation sensitive OCT is used in order to visualise
anisotropic structures and one measures the degree of
birefringence by monitoring the differences in polarisation state
of the emerging light. These differences can be used to
discriminate between different types of tissue, for example one
detect mineral losses associated with caries lesions in the dental
emanel.
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
The image below displays a human cornea acquired using
PS-OCT. Stacked lamellae of collagen fibres create a highly
anisotropic structure. In the anterior part the lamellae are
oriented at various degrees to one another but in the posterior
part they are nearly orthogonal. The higher signal from the
posterior part indicate the more anisotropic structure.
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Doppler OCT (DOCT)
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Doppler OCT is used to measure blood flow, for example in
cardiac flow measurements, in vivo monitoring of PDT and when
investigating port wine stains.
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Flowing particles introduce an offset of the demodulated
detector signal as compared when measuring on a stationary
scatterer.
Doppler OCT (DOCT)
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Measured frequency spectra
for stationary and flowing
scatterers. Note the offset for
flowing scatterers.
stationary
slow flow
faster flow
fastest flow
Figure taken from Ref 5.
Power spectrum
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Spectroscopic OCT (SOCT)
In standard OCT the signal is rectified and only the amplitude is
detected. By also measuring the phase of the fringe pattern one
can get spectroscopic information as well.
Each interferogram is split
into small windows with widths
determined by the coherence length
From each time window
the averaged position of
the spectral peak is
determined.
Fourier transforming each
window gives the spectral
information from that depth.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Standard OCT image of
an African frog tadpole.
SOCT image with red-
shifted spectra.
SOCT image with blue-
shifted spectra.
SOCT: illustration of wavelength dependent scattering
The detected signal from shallow layers is blue shifted
compared to backscattered light from deeper lying tissue.
Figure taken from Ref. 2.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
High resolution OCT
To get high resolution broadbanded and spectrally smooth
light source is needed.
OCT was initially used in ophthalmology but still higher
resolution is needed in order to diagnose many diseases.
Standard OCT can resolve overall tissue architecture, which
makes it possible to detect lesions but in order to monitor
cell growth, local invasion and metastasis and grade different
neoplasias one needs higher resolution.
Using a Ti:Sapphire laser Drexler et al have demonstrated
an axial resolution of 1-3 m giving near histologic images.
Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Presentation
outline
Introduction
Basic principles
Light sources
Functional OCT
Endoscopic OCT image of colon tissue. Tubular adenoma to the
left and normal colon to the right. Figure taken from Ref. 1.
Endoscopic OCT imaging
The ease with which light
is coupled into different
catheters and endoscopes
has lead to applications
including cancer dia-
gnostics in the gastro-
intestinal tract and colon
and intraarterial imaging
when detecting fibrous
plaques and calcifications.
Figure taken from Ref. 4.
References:
1) A F Fercher, W Drexler, C K Hitzenberger, T Lasser, Optical coherence tomography
-principles and applications, Reports on progress in physics, 66 (2003) 239-303
2) U Morgner, W Drexler, X Li, F X Krtner, C Pitris, S A Boppart, E P Ippen, J G
Fujimoto, Spectroscopic optical coherence tomography, Conference preceeding
QELS99 62-63
3) S A Boppart, Optical coherence tomography: Technology and applications for
neuroimaging, Psychophysiology 40 (2003) 529-541
4) A M Rollins, V Westphal, A Horii, M V Sivak, A Chak, A Das, R C K Wong, J A Izatt,
Endoscopic optical coherence tomography: clinical applications and functional
extensions, Lasers and Electro-Optics 2001 CLEO '01 Technical Digest
Summaries of papers presented at the Conference 2001 249-250
5) Piao, D, Guang Chen, N, Zhu, Q, Dutta, N K, Otis, LL, Imaging of fluid flow velocity
using Doppler optical coherence tomography: preliminary results, Proceeding of the
IEEE 27th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, 2001 55-56