Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography based on polarization-maintaining fibers and frequency multiplexing

We report a novel polarization-maintaining fiber based optical coherence tomography for single detector imaging of tissue reflectivity and birefringence. A single depth scan yields quantitative birefringence information along the A-line accurately. Since the orthogonal polarization channels are frequency multiplexed, the polarization information is extracted by using digital band-pass filters. Here, we introduce the optical system and present the reflectivity and birefringence images of biological tissues with an axial resolution of 7.9 mu m and SNR of 30 dB. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.