Metalens for improving optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography is one of the most attractive new tomographic techniques, especially in the detection and imaging of biological tissues. For the detection and imaging of human corneas, the current ultra-high-resolution optical coherence tomography technology faces the challenge that the depth of focus is too short to scan the entire human cornea in a single amplitude scan. Here, we propose and design a silicon metalens to replace the objective lens in the sample arm of the optical coherence tomography system. In our simulation, a uniform focused beam with a depth of focus of 886 mu m, an axial resolution of 3.1 mu m and a lateral resolution of 2.2 mu m can be generated by the metalens, which is under the excitation of broadband Gaussian light with wavelength coverage from 800 to 900 nm. This metalens fully satisfies the depth of focus and resolution requirements of the ultra-high-resolution optical coherence tomography system for human corneas, hence expands the application of optical coherence tomography in medical science for the benefit of mankind.

Automated summary

A silicon metalens is proposed and designed to enhance the depth of focus and resolution requirements of the optical coherence tomography system for imaging human corneas.