Full range polarization-sensitive Fourier domain optical coherence tomography

A swept source based polarization-sensitive Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FDOCT) system was developed that can acquire the Stokes vectors, polarization diversity intensity and birefringence images in biological tissue by reconstruction of both the amplitude and phase terms of the interference signal. The Stokes vectors of the reflected and backscattered light from the sample were determined by processing the analytical complex fringe signals from two perpendicular polarization-detection channels. Conventional time domain OCT (TDOCT) and spectrometer based FDOCT systems are limited by the fact that the input polarization states are wavelength dependent. The swept source based FDOCT system overcomes this limitation and allows accurate setting of the input polarization states. From the Stokes vectors for two different input polarization states, the polarization diversity intensity and birefringence images were obtained. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.