We show a broad range of swept source performances based on a highly-flexible external cavity laser architecture. Specifically, we demonstrate a 40-kHz 1300-nm swept source with 10 mm coherence length realized in a compact butterfly package. Fast wavelength sweeping is achieved through a 1D 20-kHz MEMS mirror in combination with an advanced diffraction grating. The MEMS mirror is a resonant electrostatic mirror that performs harmonic oscillation only within a narrow frequency range, resulting in low-jitter and long-term phase-stable sinusoidal bidirectional sweep operation with an A-scan rate of 40 kHz. The source achieves a coherence length of 10 mm for both the up- and downsweep and an OCT sensitivity of 105 dB.

Date Published: 20 March 2013
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8571, Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XVII, 85712X (20 March 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2007106

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8571:
Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XVII
James G. Fujimoto; Joseph A. Izatt; Valery V. Tuchin, Editor(s)