The EU-funded project VIAMOS1 proposes an optical coherence tomography system (OCT) for skin cancer detection, which combines full-field and full-range swept-source OCT in a multi-channel sensor for parallel detection. One of the project objectives is the development of new fabrication technologies for micro-optics, which makes it compatible to Micro-Opto-Electromechanical System technology (MOEMS). The basic system concept is a wafer-based Mirau interferometer array with an actuated reference mirror, which enables phase shifted interferogram detection and therefore reconstruction of the complex phase information, resulting in a higher measurement range with reduced image artifacts. This paper presents an experimental one-channel on-bench OCT system with bulk optics, which serves as a proof-of-concept setup for the final VIAMOS micro-system. It is based on a Linnik interferometer with a wavelength tuning light source and a camera for parallel A-Scan detection. Phase shifting interferometry techniques (PSI) are used for the suppression of the complex conjugate artifact, whose suppression reaches 36 dB. The sensitivity of the system is constant over the full-field with a mean value of 97 dB. OCT images are presented of a thin membrane microlens and a biological tissue (onion) as a preliminary demonstration.

Date Published: 22 June 2015
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9529, Optical Methods for Inspection, Characterization, and Imaging of Biomaterials II, 952913 (22 June 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2189278

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9529:
Optical Methods for Inspection, Characterization, and Imaging of Biomaterials II
Pietro Ferraro; Simonetta Grilli; Monika Ritsch-Marte; David Stifter, Editor(s)