System and method for low coherence broadband quadrature interferometry

The method of claim 17, further comprising:

• estimating reflector velocity based on
• ⅆ
• phase
• ⅆ
• t
• .

An analyzer, comprising:

• an interferometer including at least one fiber-optic coupler;
• a number of detectors that detect light from said at least one coupler;
• and
• a processor which acquires interferometric components from signals output from the detectors, scales the interferometric components, generates real and imaginary parts of a complex interferometric signal from the scaled interferometric components and generates depth-resolved sample information from the real and imaginary parts of the complex interferometric signals.

A method for performing optical coherence tomography, comprising:

• acquiring interferometric components from signals output from at least one fiber-optic coupler located along an optical signal path of the interferometer;
• scaling the interferometric components;
• generating real and imaginary parts of a complex interferometric signal from the scaled interferometric components;
• and
• instantaneously recovering Doppler shift information from the complex interferometric signal.