Depth-enhanced 2-D optical coherence tomography using complex wavefront shaping

Abstract

We report the enhancement in the obtained signal and penetration depth of 2-D depth-resolved images that were taken by shaping the incident wavefront in optical coherence tomography (OCT). Limitations in the penetration depth and signal to noise ratio (SNR) in OCT are mainly due to multiple scattering, which have been effectively suppressed by controlling the incident wavefront using a digital mirror device (DMD) in combination with spectral-domain OCT. The successful enhancements in the penetration depth and SNR are demonstrated in a wide-range of tissue phantoms, reaching depth enhancement of up to 92%. The hidden structures inside a tissue phantom that could not be seen in conventional OCT are clearly revealed through our proposed system. Its 2-D imaging capability, assisted by further optimization of the system for real-time acquisition speed will boost wide-spread use of OCT for in-vivo tissue diagnosis.