Line-field OCT System with K Space Calibration

An optical coherence tomography system comprising:

• a swept laser source comprising an intracavity mechanical tuning mechanism and a tuning curve module storing a predefined tuning function for controlling the tuning of the swept laser source;
• a line-field sensor configured to detect interference signals and reference signals produced by a frequency reference during tuning of the swept laser source;
• a controller configured to:
• (a) evaluate linearity of the tuning based on the reference signals;
• (b) determine a resampling curve to compensate for non-linearities in the wavelength tuning;
• and
• (c) update the predefined tuning function in the tuning curve module;
• and
• a processor configured to apply the resampling curve to k-linearize the interference signals and generate depth profiles for imaging.

A method for optical coherence tomography imaging, comprising:

• capturing, with a line-field sensor, interference signals corresponding to light scattered from a sample and reference light during tuning of a swept laser source;
• detecting, with a subset of pixels in the line-field sensor, a periodic reference pattern generated by a frequency reference interacting with light from the swept laser source;
• determining a resampling curve based on the periodic reference pattern to correct non-linearities in the tuning of the swept laser source;
• applying the resampling curve to k-linearize the interference signals;
• and
• performing an inverse Fourier transform on the k-linearized interference signals to generate depth profiles for tomographic imaging.

A method for calibrating a swept laser source in an optical coherence tomography system, comprising:

• capturing reference signals produced by a frequency reference during wavelength tuning of the swept laser source;
• analyzing the reference signals to evaluate the linearity of the wavelength tuning;
• determining a resampling curve to compensate for non-linearities in the wavelength tuning and/or updating a tuning function stored in the swept laser source;
• applying the resampling curve to k-linearize interference signals captured by the OCT system;
• and
• generating tomographic images based on the k-linearized interference signals.