Depth-encoded synthetic aperture optical coherence tomography of biological tissues with extended focal depth

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has proven to be able to provide three-dimensional (3D) volumetric images of scattering biological tissues for in vivo medical diagnostics. Unlike conventional optical microscopy, its depth-resolving ability (axial resolution) is exclusively determined by the laser source and therefore invariant over the full imaging depth. In contrast, its transverse resolution is determined by the objective’s numerical aperture and the wavelength which is only approximately maintained over twice the Rayleigh range. However, the prevailing laser sources for OCT allow image depths of more than 5 mm which is considerably longer than the Rayleigh range. This limits high ...
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