title: Birefringence measurement of the retinal nerve fiber layer by swept source polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography.
abstract: A Swept Source Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (SS-PS-OCT) instrument has been designed, constructed, and verified to provide high sensitivity depth-resolved birefringence and phase retardation measurements of the retinal nerve fiber layer. The swept-source laser had a center wavelength of 1059 nm, a full-width-half-max spectral bandwidth of 58 nm and an A-line scan rate of 34 KHz. Power incident on the cornea was 440 µW and measured axial resolution was 17 µm in air. A multiple polarization state nonlinear fitting algorithm was used to measure retinal birefringence with low uncertainty. Maps of RNFL phase retardation in a subject measured with SS-PS-OCT compare well with those generated using a commercial scanning laser polarimetry instrument. Peak-to-valley variation of RNFL birefringence given here is less than values previously reported at 840nm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C0803, Austin, TX 78712, USA. badr.ee@gmail.com
authors.forename: Badr
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Elmaanaoui
authors.forename: Bingqing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jordan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Dwelle
authors.forename: Austin B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: McElroy
authors.forename: Shuang S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Henry G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Rylander
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Milner
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001718:Birefringence; D003315:Cornea / Q000473:pathology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009412:Nerve Fibers; D009898:Optic Disk; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000379:methods*; D012160:Retina; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D057109:Scanning Laser Polarimetry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*