title: Dispersion compensation in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography using the fractional Fourier transform.
abstract: We address numerical dispersion compensation based on the use of the fractional Fourier transform (FrFT). The FrFT provides a new fundamental perspective on the nature and role of group-velocity dispersion in Fourier domain OCT. The dispersion induced by a 26 mm long water cell was compensated for a spectral bandwidth of 110 nm, allowing the theoretical axial resolution in air of 3.6 μm to be recovered from the dispersion degraded point spread function. Additionally, we present a new approach for depth dependent dispersion compensation based on numerical simulations. Finally, we show how the optimized fractional Fourier transform order parameter can be used to extract the group velocity dispersion coefficient of a material.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. nlip001@aucklanduni.ac.nz
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lippok
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coen
authors.forename: Poul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vanholsbeeck
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*