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New OCT Swept Laser Source from Thorlabs

Thorlabs, manufacturer of research OCT technology, has been dedicated to the development of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging systems and related products since 2005. Thorlabs has made OCT accessible for use in a wide range of imaging applications involving highly scattering media, including small animal imaging, skin imaging, developmental biology, vascular imaging, ophthalmology, and quality control.

Thorlabs is now pleased to introduce their new 55 kHz swept source OCT (SS-OCT) imaging system, which employs a novel tunable filter technology with a highly efficient laser cavity design to achieve a broad wavelength tuning range (>120 nm) at high sweep rates. Excellent coherence length (6 mm) is maintained during the high-speed tuning of the swept source laser, which supports greater OCT imaging depths in samples compared to Thorlabs’ currently available 16 kHz SS-OCT imaging system.

Even with this trifold increase in speed, Thorlabs intends to push the envelope even further. The organization and its strategic partner, Praevium Research, in collaboration with the OCT imaging group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have received a three-year research grant from the National Cancer Institute. This funding will support the development and commercialization of a VCSEL-based light source that will be incorporated into Thorlabs’ SS-OCT imaging system. The result will be a new clinical tool capable of in vivo, volumetric imaging of tissue pathology with an unprecedented axial scan rate on the order of 1 MHz.

SS-OCT is a frequency domain OCT technique that measures the magnitude and time delay of reflected light through interferometric techniques. Depth profiles (A-scans) of the sample being imaged are constructed from the interferometric signals. Cross sectional and volumetric images are created through collection of adjacent A-scans. OCT fills a niche between ultrasound and confocal microscopy imaging modalities, offering micron-level imaging resolution and millimeters of imaging depth. In addition to these advantages, the non-contact, noninvasive nature of OCT makes it well suited for imaging samples such as biological tissue and highly scattering materials.

Please contact Arthur van Lieshout for more information.