Swept-wavelength sources for optical coherence tomography in the 1 μm range

Abstract

Two swept-wavelength light sources based on Ytterbium doped fibre amplifiers are demonstrated. The filtered output from a superfluorescent source is scanned over 20 nm, and used for topography with an axial resolution of <40 &#956;m. Dynamic properties of a swept-wavelength YDFA based ring laser is investigated. This is the first reported results with dynamically swept sources centered in the 1 &#956;m wavelength range, which is expected to be important for future development of optical coherence tomography systems for retinal imaging.