Theoretical and experimental characterization of a stationary low coherence interferometer for optical coherence tomography

A stationary low coherence interferometer for optical coherence tomography (linear OCT, LOCT) based on Young's two-pinhole experiment is characterized theoretically. All OCT sensors either work in the time (TDOCT) or Fourier domain (FDOCT). In contrast to these setups, the interferometer described in this paper employs no moving parts in the reference arm and no spectrometers for depth profiling. Depth profiling is achieved by detecting the interference signal on a linear CCD-array. Different positions of the interference signal on the CCD-array correspond to different depths inside the sample. The interference signal of the setup and the sensitivity in the case of shot noise limited detection are derived theoretically and compared to sensors in the time domain. In-vitro images of porcine cornea demonstrate the clinical potential of the setup.