Five-Frame Variable Phase-Shifting Method for Full-Range Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

In order to achieve a better complex conjugate artifacts (CCA) suppression, we propose a five-frame variable phase-shifting (FVP) method for spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The traditional five-frame invariant phase-shifting (FIP) method employs five phase shifts correlate with the center wavelength. However, due to the effects of polychromatic errors, the FIP method cannot get excellent CCA suppression. In the present work, we employ FVP method using variable phase shifts which is dependent on all the wavelengths and therefore, theoretically, the system would have no effects of polychromatic errors. This is the reason why the FVP method would achieve better CCA suppression than the FIP method. Comparative studies between FIP and FVP methods are investigated in the work. Subsequently, we develop a homemade SD-OCT system involving a homemade spectrometer, by which the anterior segment of a rat’s eyeball is measured. The experimental results demonstrate that the quality of OCT images is significantly improved by using FVP method with an increase by a factor of 1.7 on the CCA suppression of SD-OCT. FVP provides a new strategy for complex conjugate artifacts suppression for spectral domain optical coherence tomography.