Compact Er:Yb:glass-laser-based supercontinuum source for high-resolution optical coherence tomography.
We present a low coherence light source by direct super-continuum generation from a diode-pumped, passively modelocked Er:Yb:glass-laser, which generates 198 fs transform-limited pulses with an average power of 100 mW at a repetition rate of 75 MHz. The pulse train is launched into a dispersion optimized highly nonlinear fiber for spectral broadening. The optical bandwidth spans from 1150 nm to 2400 nm, which is more than one octave. The potential for ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) is demonstrated by coherence measurements supporting an axial resolution of 3.5 microm in air.
Stumpf
M C
MC
Department of Physics, Institute of Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. stumpf@phys.ethz.ch
Zeller
S C
SC
Schlatter
A
A
Okuno
T
T
Südmeyer
T
T
Keller
U
U
D004867:Equipment Design; D004871:Erbium / Q000737:chemistry*; D005898:Glass; D007368:Interferometry / Q000379:methods; D007834:Lasers; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013997:Time Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015018:Ytterbium / Q000737:chemistry*
D004871:Erbium; D015018:Ytterbium