Analyses and calculations of noise in optical coherence tomography systems

Abstract

Significant progress has been made in the study of optical coherence tomography (OCT) - a non-invasive, high resolution, and in vivo diagnostic method for medical imaging applications. In this paper, the principles of noise analyses for OCT systems have been described. Comparisons are made of signal-to-noise ratios for both balanced and unbalanced detection schemes under the ideal no-stray light situation as well as the non-ideal situation where residual reflections and scatterings are presented. Numerical examples of noise calculation accompanied by detailed comparison of the main characteristics of both time-domain and frequency-domain OCT systems are also presented. It is shown that a larger dynamic range can be achieved for a Fourier-domain OCT system even under the circumstances of high-speed image acquisition. The main results presented in this paper should be useful for the development of high performance OCT systems.

Keywords

optical coherence tomography (OCT) / noise analyses / sensitivity / signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60637020) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60677012).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg