1μm Semiconductor Light Source with High Power and Broadband for Optical Coherence Tomography

lµm light sources are attractive for Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) applications for ophthalmology. A semiconductor multi-quantum well structure has been designed and grown (based on AlGaAs/GaA material) to reach the l�m wavelength window. A compact packaged high power (> 30mW) and wide-bandwidth (>100nm) superluminescent light emit diode (SLD) is achieved with catastrophic optical damage (COD) threshold higher than lOOmW. The lµm SLDs are suitable for high-resolution FD-OCT and SD-OCT applications. A high gain and high P sat 1050nm semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is also achieved. The 1050nm SOA is a suitable gain medium for swept light sources for ultra high resolution OCT and are ideal for in vivo retinal imaging of small choroid blood vessels below the highly reflective and absorbing retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).