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High-speed polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography for the investigation of tissue birefringence

Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT) is an optical imaging modality that is sensitive to the birefringence properties of tissues. Birefringence is related to various biological components and therefore, polarization can provide novel contrast mechanisms for imaging. In this work, we will describe the design of a high-speed polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography system. A broadband source centered at 1310nm with 35nm bandwidth was utilized as the light source. The output power of the source and the resolution of the system were around 20mW and ~20 micrometers, respectively. To achieve high-speed scan, a rapid scan optical delay line (RSOD) was utilized in the reference arm. It provided depth scanning up to 1000 A-scan/s and controlled the carrier frequency of the interference of fridge pattern. Two galvo-mounted mirrors were used for lateral scanning of the beam. The polarization state of the incident light was altered between horizontal and vertical states by using a fast polarization rotator. The combined light from the reference and the sample arms was split into two orthogonal polarization components by a polarizing beam splitter and coupled into two single-mode optical fibers that are connected to the photodiodes. The roundtrip Jones matrix of the sample arm was measured and used to calibrate the measurements of polarization properties of the sample. The elements of the Jones matrix of the sample were calculated by the using the output Jones vectors for the incident polarization states. The performance of the system was evaluated with standard samples such as a quarter-wave plate. The animal studies are currently undertaken to assess the performance of the system in-vivo.