Post-tuning of Sample Position in Common-path Swept-source Optical Coherence Tomography

Common-path interferometers are widely used for endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) because an arbitrary arm length can be chosen for the endoscopic imaging probe. However, the scheme suffers from the limited range of the sample position distance from the end of the imaging probe because the position between the reference reflector and the sample is limited by the optical path-length difference (OPD) to induce an interference signal. In this study, we developed a novel method for compensating the arbitrary sample position in common-path swept-source OCT by adding an extra Mach-Zehnder interferometer in the post-path of the interfered optical signal. Theoretical analysis and an experimental demonstration of imaging depth tuning for the flexible sample position of an endoscopic OCT image are discussed. After post-tuning of sample position distance, the positioning limitation between the reference reflector and the sample can be solved for various sample positions over a range of 26 mm for the cross-sectional images of a fish eye sample.