Systems and methods for faster optical coherence tomography acquisition and processing

A swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system generating images of the eye comprising:

• a light source for generating a probe beam wherein said source is swept in wavelength over a spectral range at a sweep rate;
• optics for scanning the beam over a set of transverse locations across the eye during a wavelength sweep of the laser;
• a detector for measuring light returned from the eye as a function of wavelength that acquires data at a data acquisition rate;
• and
• a processor for performing Fourier transformations and generating images of the eye based on the output of the detector over a sampling of wavelengths, wherein the data for each sweep of the spectral range is divided into multiple subsets of data of different spectral ranges prior to Fourier transformation and image generation, wherein the multiple subsets contain data from different transverse locations on the eye;
• and
• a display for displaying the processed image or images.

A method of analyzing the eye of a patient using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system, said method comprising:

• collecting a series of OCT data over a series of transverse locations in the eye, wherein the data includes both intensity and phase,
• processing a first portion of the data using an intensity motion contrast technique to determine motion contrast and generating a first, preview image corresponding thereto;
• and
• processing a second portion of the data using a phase sensitive motion contrast technique to determine motion contrast and generating a second image corresponding thereto, wherein the processing of the second portion of the data takes more processing time than processing the first portion of the data and wherein the second image is of higher quality than the first image.