Photonic integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an on-chip reference arm for optical coherence tomography.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive, three-dimensional imaging modality with several medical and industrial applications. Integrated photonics has the potential to enable mass production of OCT devices to significantly reduce size and cost, which can increase its use in established fields as well as enable new applications. Using silicon nitride (Si3N4) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) waveguides, we fabricated an integrated interferometer for spectrometer-based OCT. The integrated photonic circuit consists of four splitters and a 190 mm long reference arm with a foot-print of only 10 × 33 mm(2). It is used as the core of a spectral domain OCT system consisting of a superluminescent diode centered at 1320 nm with 100 nm bandwidth, a spectrometer with 1024 channels, and an x-y scanner. The sensitivity of the system was measured at 0.25 mm depth to be 65 dB with 0.1 mW on the sample. Using the system, we imaged human skin in vivo. With further optimization in design and fabrication technology, Si3N4/SiO2 waveguides have a potential to serve as a platform for passive photonic integrated circuits for OCT.
Photonics Research Group, Ghent University-imec, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium ; Center for Nano- and Biophotonics (NB-Photonics), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Günay
G
Yurtsever
optoLab, Institute for Human Centered Engineering, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Quellgasse 21, CH-2502 Biel/Bienne, Switzerland ; Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, General Hospital Vienna 4,L Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
Boris
B
Považay
Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, General Hospital Vienna 4,L Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
Aneesh
A
Alex
Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, General Hospital Vienna 4,L Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
Behrooz
B
Zabihian
Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, General Hospital Vienna 4,L Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
Wolfgang
W
Drexler
Photonics Research Group, Ghent University-imec, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium ; Center for Nano- and Biophotonics (NB-Photonics), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Roel
R
Baets
(110.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (130.0130) Integrated optics; (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography