High-speed processing architecture for spectral-domain optical coherence microscopy.
Optical coherence microscopy (OCM) is an interferometric technique that combines principles of confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to obtain high-resolution en face images. Axial and lateral resolutions of several microns can be achieved using OCM depending on the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective and sample properties. We address the computational complexity that is inherent in spectral-domain OCM systems that limits its real-time capability as a microscope. An architecture that will improve the efficiency of the computation involved is presented. Currently, spectral-domain OCM images are obtained by individually taking the Fourier transform of each axial scan in cross-sectional frames and computationally slicing them to generate en face images. The real-time architecture presented here relies on the fact that only one Fourier domain point of a given axial scan needs to be computed rather than computing all the Fourier domain points, which can frequently require a significant amount of time to compute. This new realization has been shown to reduce the processing time to obtain the en face OCM images by a factor of 30.
Chelliyil
Robin G
RG
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
Ralston
Tyler S
TS
Marks
Daniel L
DL
Boppart
Stephen A
SA
D000465:Algorithms; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*