Ultrahigh speed Spectral / Fourier domain OCT imaging in ophthalmology

Ultrahighs peed Spectral/Fourier domain ophthalmic OCT imaging at 70, 000-312,500 a xial scansper second is demonstrated using a high speed CMOS camera at 800 nm. Comparative imaging results of the fovea illustrate the performance tradeoffs between different imaging speeds and spectrometer configurations. Dense 3 Dvolumetric acquisitions show minimal motion artifacts when acquired at 250,000 axial scans per second. The porous structure of the lamina cribrosa is shown in enface images extracted from a densevol umetric acquisition of the optical nerve head acquired at 106, 382 a xial scans persecond. Rapid repeated volume imaging (4D-OCT) shows blood flow in retinal capillaries. Boundaries of the capillary network are enhanced by motion contrast. 3D volumetric data acquired at 49,000 axial scans persecond using an InGaAs camera at 1050 nm is compared to volumetric data acquired at 101, 010 axial scans per second using a CMOS camera at 800nm. Averaging of adjacent cross sectional scans in the volume is shown to increase contrast in the images and reduce speckle. The enhanced penetration of the 1050 nm compared to the 800 nm OCT im aging system is shown. Dense 2D/3 D data sets and 4D-OCT repeated volume imaging pro mise altern ative methods for diagnosis and monitoring of disease.