Imaging apparatus

An imaging apparatus comprising:

• a light source configured to emit light while sweeping a wavelength of the light;
• an interference unit configured to split the light emitted from the light source into irradiation light with which a fundus is irradiated and reference light and to generate interference light obtained by interference of reflection light reflected from the fundus irradiated with the irradiation light with the reference light;
• a detector configured to detect the interference light;
• a converter configured to convert an analog signal generated from the interference light into a digital signal;
• a clock generator configured as an interferometer including an optical path through which part of the light emitted from the light source passes, the optical path being split into a first optical path and a second optical path having an optical path length difference relative to the first optical path, to generate a clock used by the converter sampling the analog signal at a frequency corresponding to the optical path length difference;
• and
• a tomographic image obtaining unit configured to obtain a tomographic image of the fundus by using the digital signal converted from the analog signal sampled by the converter in accordance with the generated clock, wherein
• the converter includes n analog/digital converters, n being an integer equal to or larger than 2, and is configured to change at least one of phases of n clocks obtained from the clock having the frequency corresponding to the optical path length difference to produce a phase difference between the phases, and to sample the analog signal in accordance with a clock having a frequency that is n times as high as the frequency corresponding to the optical path length difference by the n analog/digital converters using the n clocks and n analog signals obtained from the analog signal.

An imaging apparatus comprising:

• a light source configured to emit light while sweeping a wavelength of the light;
• an interference unit configured to split the light emitted from the light source into irradiation light with which a fundus is irradiated and reference light and to generate interference light obtained by interference of reflection light reflected from the fundus irradiated with the irradiation light with the reference light;
• a detector configured to detect the interference light;
• a converter configured to convert an analog signal generated from the interference light into a digital signal;
• a clock generator configured as an interferometer including an optical path through which part of the light emitted from the light source passes, the optical path being split into a first optical path and a second optical path having an optical path length difference relative to the first optical path, to generate a clock used by the converter sampling the analog signal at a frequency corresponding to the optical path length difference;
• and
• a tomographic image obtaining unit configured to obtain a tomographic image of the fundus by using the digital signal converted from the analog signal sampled by the converter in accordance with the generated clock, wherein
• the converter includes an inverter circuit configured to invert, in relation to one of two clocks obtained from the clock having the frequency corresponding to the optical path length difference, the other of the two clocks, a first analog-to-digital (A/D) converter configured to sample the analog signal using the one, and a second analog-to-digital (A/D) converter configured to sample the analog signal using the inverted other.