Systems and methods for artifact suppression by frequency shifting or cavity length adjustment

An optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for imaging a sample, said system comprising:

• a light source for generating a beam of radiation, wherein the source includes a tunable filter for spectrally filtering light to generate a tunable optical signal that is tuned over a wavelength band,
• a beam divider for separating the beam along a sample arm and a reference arm;
• optics for scanning the beam in the sample arm over a set of transverse locations on the sample and for combining light returning from the sample and reference arms;
• a detector for measuring the combined light, the detector generating output signals in response thereoto;
• and
• a processor for generating an interferometric image from the output signals, wherein the light source includes a phase modulating element that adjusts the phase of the light as it is being tuned to reduce coherence revival signals in the interferometric image.

An optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for imaging a sample, said system comprising:

• a light source for generating a beam of radiation, wherein the source includes a tunable filter for spectrally filtering light to generate a tunable optical signal that is tuned over a wavelength band, wherein the filter is located in a laser cavity having a laser cavity length,
• a beam divider for separating the beam along a sample arm and a reference arm;
• optics for scanning the beam in the sample arm over a set of transverse locations on a sample and for combining light returning from the sample and reference arms;
• a detector for measuring the combined light, the detector generating output signals in response thereoto;
• and
• a processor for generating an interferometric image from the output signals, wherein the light source includes a length adjusting element to adjust the laser cavity length to avoid coherence revival artifacts in the interferometric image.