Quantification of a three-dimensional velocity vector using spectral-domain Doppler optical coherence tomography

Multiangle, fiber-based, spectral-domain Doppler optical coherence tomography with a phase-resolved algorithm is presented to measure three components of an arbitrary velocity vector. A beam divider that divides a probe beam to have five independent viewpoints and path length delays was designed. The divider was inserted into the sampling arm of a Doppler optical coherence tomography system between the collimator and the first galvo mirror of a two-axis galvo scanner. The divider produced five independent Ak's (the average difference between the wave vectors of incoming and outgoing beams) after passing through the focusing lens while keeping two-axis scanning capability. After calibration, an unknown velocity vector field inside a microtube was quantified by solving a three-dimensional minimization problem. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America