Using the Analog Input Feature ..................16 Chapter 3 Description ........................ 1 7 Tutorial ........................17 Theory ........................... 18 Thorlabs SD-OCT System Technology ................. 19 Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography ..........20 Nomenclature in OCT Imaging..................21 ...
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Mechanical Drawings .................... 7 1 Chapter 12 Regulatory ........................ 7 2 Waste Treatment is Your Own Responsibility ............72 Ecological Background ..................72 Chapter 13 Thorlabs OCT Support Contact .................. 7 3 Chapter 14 Thorlabs Worldwide Contacts .................. 7 4 ...
Opening the device will void your warranty. Any modification or servicing of this system by unqualified personnel renders Thorlabs free of any liability. This device can only be returned when packed into the complete original packaging, including all foam packing inserts.
Make sure that the line voltage rating agrees with your local supply and that the appropriate fuses are installed. Fuses should only be changed by qualified service personnel. Contact Thorlabs for assistance. Do not operate without cover installed. Refer servicing to qualified personnel.
If the system is mishandled during shipment, the optical components may become misaligned, which can lead to a decrease in image quality. If this occurs, the system will need to be realigned by qualified personnel. Please contact Thorlabs’ OCT support (see Chapter 13) for more information. ...
The OCT base unit can easily be adapted for custom interfaces. To achieve the listed specifications, however, this system should only be used with accessories provided by Thorlabs. Any modification or maintenance by unqualified personnel will render the warranty null and void, leaving Thorlabs free of liability. Please contact Thorlabs’...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup Chapter 2 Setup Unpacking Carefully unpack the components from the transport boxes. Make sure that all components have been delivered according to the packing list included in the transport box. After unpacking, store the packing cartons and inserts. You may need them in case of a service or upgrade of your OCT system.
Electrical Interfaces to Scanner For connecting a scanner to the base unit, two different interfaces are available. The Galvo Scanner connection port is intended for use with the OCTG and OCTP Thorlabs imaging scanners. The OCTH Scanner connection port is intended for use with the OCTH Thorlabs imaging scanner.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup System Installation ATTENTION Make sure the included power cords for the base unit, computer and monitor are connected to a properly grounded outlet (100 – 240 VAC; 50 – 60 Hz). Transportation and delivery may cause the OCT base unit to be warm or cool upon receipt. Please wait for the system to reach room temperature before attempting to operate.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup 4) For GAN111 and GAN3x1: Connect the USB 3.0 cable between the A0 Camera connector on the base unit and the PC. Note: Make sure to use the USB 3.0 cable and to connect the cable to a USB 3.0 port, check for the blue color to confirm that the cable and port are for USB 3.0.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup 7) Attach the electric connection cable to the imaging scanner. (Note: The electrical and fiber cables of the OCTH scanner are fixed to the scanner unit) Align the red dot of the plug to the alignment mark of the electric connection port of the scanner (shown here: OCTG).
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup 8) Connect the fiber to the imaging scanner (not required for OCTH type scanners). ATTENTION When installing the fiber, make sure that the fiber tip is not contaminated by dust. Do not touch the fiber tip! Remove the dust caps from one fiber end and from the FC/APC fiber connection at the imaging scanner.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup 9) Attach the electric connection cable to the base unit. Use the Galvo Scanner port for OCTG and OCTP series scanners or the OCTH Scanner port for OCTH series scanners. Align the red dot upwards, facing the alignment mark in the base unit. Alignment Mark Red Dot...
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup Figure 10 Connecting the Fiber to the Base Unit Slide the fiber tip into the center bore of the fiber connection. B), C) The fiber needs to be oriented in rotation, so that the alignment key slides into the mating part of the probe connector.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup 11) Pull the protective cap off the scan objective. Do not touch the optical surface of the lens. Figure 11 Protective Cap Enable External Trigger To enable the use of an external A-scan trigger, the trigger cable from the external source must be connected to the Trigger port with a tee connector.
If the input/output impedance of the connected device cannot be adjusted, use an additional 50 Ω feedthrough terminator in line with the coaxial cable (Thorlabs Part Number T4119). Page 14...
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup Figure 13: SMA Cable Connected to Trigger I/O port Rev C, June 25, 2021 Page 15...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 2: Setup Using the Analog Input Feature The system is capable of sampling up to two individual analog signals synchronously with the OCT imaging process (SMA connectors Analog IN1 / Analog IN2 on the back panel of the OCT base unit). ®...
Spatially-encoded Frequency Domain OCT (seFD-OCT), also named Fourier Transform Domain OCT (FD-OCT) and Spectral Domain OCT (SD-OCT). Thorlabs uses the abbreviations SD-OCT for the spatially encoded camera-based OCT systems and SS-OCT for the time-encoded systems. In both types of systems, a fiber coupler splits light into the sample and reference arms of an interferometer setup.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description Theory The interference equation for the cross-correlated interference term is ~2 ∙ ∙ ∙ cos Δ With the phase difference (Δ) being a function of the optical path length difference (Δz) and the wavenumber Δ...
To gain access to this back-scattered light, it is necessary to insert a splitting device into the optical path. In Thorlabs' SD-OCT systems, this device could be either a fiber coupler or a circulator.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography A standard OCT system is able to measure a depth scan of the sample using the phase and intensity of the backscattered light from different positions in depth. Nevertheless, it does not account for polarization effects or birefringence in the sample, which might be interesting if the sample shows different birefringent properties locally.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description changed again but its composition stays the same so that the intensity measured in each sensor, for s- and for p-polarized components, reflects the polarization and birefringence properties of the sample. Based on the intensity and phase differences in the interference patterns detected by both sensors, net polarization changes as a function of depth in the sample are determined with the typical spatial resolution of an SD-OCT system.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description Additionally, scanning the second axis while collecting B-scans produces a volumetric measurement, which can be imaged with different display modalities. Please refer to the ThorImage ® OCT Software Manual for all features available. Figure 21 Rendered Volumetric Data Set Cropping a 3D image to a plane with both scan directions as axes creates an en-face view, such that the viewing plane is parallel to the image plane of the color camera in the scanner.
Neither a scanner nor the OCT-STAND are included in the base unit package and must be ordered separately. When ordered together with a scanner, the system will be pre-assembled at Thorlabs and the PC settings will already be calibrated and optimized for the delivered OCT scanner.
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3D measurements. Hardware control features include (but are not limited to): • Defining a standard scanner provided by Thorlabs or creating a software representation of a custom- built device •...
Chapter 3: Description Imaging Scanner (Accessory) Thorlabs SD-OCT systems use a common-path OCT setup in which the interferometer is located within the imaging scanner. This integration of the interferometer eliminates the problems associated with chromatic or polarization mode dispersion that are introduced by differences between individual fibers in the sample and reference arms.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description Figure 26 OCTP-PS User-Customizable PS OCT Scanner Figure 27 OCTH Handheld Scanner Page 26 MTN020880-D02...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description OCT-STAND (Accessory) The Thorlabs OCTG and OCTP scanners can be mounted to an OCT-STAND. The rotation/translation stage OCT-XYR1 is available as a common accessory to the OCT-STAND. Figure 28 OCT-STAND with OCT-XYR1 Figure 29 OCT-STAND Adjuster...
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 3: Description Figure 30 OCT-XYR1 Sample Translation/Rotation Stage For further details on the OCT-STAND and the OCT-XYR1 stage, please refer to the Thorlabs website. Page 28 MTN020880-D02...
Basic Adjustments Upon receiving a complete SD-OCT system from Thorlabs, the reference length is adjusted so that OCT imaging in air is possible simply by adjusting the focus to the region of interest. If the reference arm length no longer matches the sample arm length, the following procedure will aid you to a good basic adjustment.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation off focus in focus Figure 32 Basic Focus Adjustment (Left: Bad Focus, Right: Good Focus) Page 30 MTN020880-D02...
OCT, as shown below. For optimizing reference intensity, use the reference intensity adjustment knob (see Figure 24 for the OCTG scanner or the OCTH manual if you are using a Thorlabs handheld scanner). Very Low Reference Intensity Low Reference Intensity...
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation Figure 34 B-Scan of an IR Viewing Card After basic alignment, you need to adjust the focus position inside your sample by use of the fine focus adjuster (see Figure 28) of the OCT-STAND. Then, the final position of the OCT image in the B-scan or volume can be set using the reference length adjustment knob, which will move the image up and down until you achieve the desired location.
Figure 36 OCT B-Scans of Scattering Particles taken with LSM02, LSM03, and LSM04 Thorlabs offers three scan lens kits for different purposes. Figure 36 shows the difference in lateral resolution and depth of focus for the OCT-LK2 (high resolution imaging), OCT-LK3 (general purpose), and OCT-LK4 (long depth of focus) objectives.
Thorlabs offers a special reference arm adapter to further increase the reference arm length; please contact Thorlabs’ OCT support (see Chapter 13) for more information.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation Optimizing the Sensitivity In Frequency Domain OCT systems, a decrease in sensitivity is observed at larger measurement depths. This is especially obvious in SD-OCT systems where this so-called roll-off already starts to affect measurements at around 30% of the maximum measurement depth.
(e.g. a glass slide) to reduce scattering. Thorlabs offers sample z-spacers that provide a glass plate at a fixed distance to reduce scattering effects and to keep the sample in focus, please contact Thorlabs for more information.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation Example Images Frequency Domain OCT can be used for a wide range of real-time monitoring applications in biological and clinical fields as well as in manufacturing and materials science. This technology is ideal for in-line industrial imaging applications ranging from laminated packaging films to 3D visualization of mechanical parts.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation Figure 42 B-Scan of Skin and Nail Fold. Top – Intensity-Based OCT image, Bottom – Optic Axis Polarization- Sensitive OCT image Page 38 MTN020880-D02...
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation Material Imaging SD-OCT can also be used for non-biological material science applications. SD-OCT systems are ideal for monitoring surface topography and layered structures. Figure 43 B-Scan of a Semi-Transparent Molded Plastic Cap Figure 44 B-Scan of a Laminated IR Card Figure 45 B-Scan of plastic.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 4: System Operation Biological Imaging Figure 46 B-Scan of a Section of a Grape Figure 47 B-Scan of carious tooth. Top – Intensity-Based OCT image, Bottom - Degree of Polarization Uniformity (DOPU)-Based OCT image Page 40 MTN020880-D02...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Chapter 5 Imaging Artifacts Saturation and Non-Linearity OCT A-scan data is created by frequency analysis of the spectral data generated by the spectrometer. Intense reflection from the sample can saturate the sensor of the spectrometer or illuminate very close to saturation. This effect broadens the signal and leads to a nonlinear response.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts When operating with a wedge, the image will be tilted in the direction of the wedge angle. When scanning in the orthogonal direction, no tilt occurs. Wrong Reference Intensity Setting The OCT image is created by interferometry as shown in Figure 17. For good image acquisition, the intensity of the reference light needs to be well above noise level and well below saturation.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Autocorrelation The fundamental principle of SD-OCT is a frequency analysis of an interference signal entering the spectrometer. Usually this interference signal is created by photons returned from the sample interfering with photons returned from the reference arm. In the case a sample has at least one highly reflecting surface, the reflections off this surface can interfere with other photons returned from the sample.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Multiple Scattering Imaging highly scattering material means that a large portion of the photons returned to the detection system have been scattered multiple times between entering and exiting the sample. Since OCT visualizes the relative travelled path lengths of photons, signals from multiple scattered photons appear to be deeper in the image than is physically true.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Phase Wrapping and Fringe Washout The A-scan data created by the SD-OCT system is produced from spectral information of an optical interference. Depending on the system setting, a certain integration time applies for the acquisition of each A-scan. Certain movement of the whole sample or parts of it can be well detected by comparing the phase information of adjacent A-scans.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Flipped Image There is no distinguishing between photons that traveled a distance d shorter or longer from the beam splitter to the sample compared to the reference arm length. When adjusting the reference length to be too long, the image appears flipped.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Shadowing Since SD-OCT imaging uses light for detection of depth information, this information can only be gleaned from photons exiting and reentering through the sampling aperture. Reflections, strong scattering, and absorption lead to shadows in the depth distribution of the acquired data. Figure 58: Rendered Volume of a Screw on an IR Viewing Card Displaying the Shadowing Effect Rev C, June 25, 2021 Page 47...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Image Distortion by Refractive Media OCT images display path length differences in between reference arm length and sample arm length (distance from the beam splitter to the scattering or reflecting object). These path lengths are optical path lengths, calculated from the physical path length multiplied by the group refractive index.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts The Group Refraction Index The principle of optical coherence tomography is the detection of optical path length differences between the two arms of an interferometer. The mechanical path lengths and the refractive indices of the materials define the optical paths within these arms.
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Measurement Depth in OCT Systems The spectral resolution of a frequency domain OCT system defines its possible measurement depth. This depth is the maximum detectable optical path length difference limited by the Nyquist criteria. In real materials, the measurement depth of OCT systems is reduced and the axial resolution is enhanced (smaller values).
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts Distortions in the Image In complex structures, distortions occur in the OCT image, which require a close look to be understood. Figure 62 Different Materials in One Measurement The loss of imaging depth depends on the amount of material through which the beam passes. As a result, the measured depth in the sample changes throughout the scan.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 5: Imaging Artifacts As an example, a material with a wedge is analyzed: Figure 63 Complex Structure in Image The block shows “standard” behavior on the right side where the surface is perpendicular to the incoming beam. In the chamfered area there is diffraction and the beam travels under an angle through the block.
Synchronous Acquisition of OCT and Fluorescence Using the Analog Input of Thorlabs Spectral Domain OCT Systems The new generation of Thorlabs Telesto and Ganymede spectral domain OCT systems features two analog inputs that allow synchronous detection of voltage signals while acquiring OCT images. One possible application is the detection of spatial distribution of fluorescence markers in a sample.
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To get a sufficient amount of signal, we used a custom OCT scanner with a broadband reflecting silver mirror but without a reference arm. Instead, a coupler and a separate reference arm were added to the scheme in Figure 64. Please contact oct@thorlabs.com for details of this setup. Raw OCT signal...
Towards the Top of the OCT Image”) Image Reference Intensity too High or too Adjust Reference Intensity Other Reason Contact Thorlabs’ OCT Support Please refer to Chapter 13 for Thorlabs OCT Support contact info. Rev C, June 25, 2021 Page 55...
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Please Refer to the with IR Card in Focus While ThorImage ® OCT Software Running a Slow 2D Scan) Scanner Calibration Wrong Manual for the Scanner Calibration Procedure Contact Thorlabs’ OCT Other Reason Support Table 4 Troubleshooting Page 56 MTN020880-D02...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 7: Troubleshooting Changing the Input Fuses If for some reason you need to replace an open fuse in the base unit, you must perform the following procedure: Remove the AC input cable that may be connected to the unit. ...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 8: Certifications and Compliance Chapter 8 Certifications and Compliance Declaration of Conformity GAN1x1 Series Base Units Page 58 MTN020880-D02...
This repair charge will be quoted to the customer before the work is performed. Warranty Exclusions All specific warranty and repair information can be found in the general terms and conditions located at https://www.thorlabs.com/Images/PDF/LG-PO-001_Thorlabs_terms_and_%20agreements.pdf Page 68 MTN020880-D02...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 10: Specifications Chapter 10 Specifications General Specifications – SD-OCT Base Unit Supply Voltage for Base Unit 100 V – 240 V / AC Maximum Power Consumption 150 W Weight Base Unit 12.5 kg Storage/Operating Temperature 10 °C to 35 °C Maximum Relative Humidity 85%, Non-Condensing Environment Dimensions of Base Unit (L x W x H)
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 10: Specifications Optical Performance Specifications – Telesto Series Base Unit TEL211 TEL211PS TEL221 TEL221PS TEL311 TEL321 Base Unit Central Wavelength 1325 nm 1300 nm 1325 nm 1300 nm Axial Scan Rate 5.5 kHz to 76 kHz 10 kHz to 146 kHz Max Imaging Depth 7.0 / 5.3 mm...
Waste Treatment is Your Own Responsibility If you do not return an “end of life” unit to Thorlabs, you must hand it to a company specialized in waste recovery. Do not dispose of the unit in a litter bin or at a public waste disposal site.
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SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 13: Thorlabs OCT Support Contact Chapter 13 Thorlabs OCT Support Contact If you have a technical question or issue on Thorlabs OCT products, please refer directly to the OCT Support team located in Luebeck, Germany. OCT Support Thorlabs GmbH Maria-Goeppert-Straße 9...
SD-OCT Base Unit Chapter 14: Thorlabs Worldwide Contacts Chapter 14 Thorlabs Worldwide Contacts For technical support or sales inquiries, please visit us at www.thorlabs.com/contact for our most up-to-date contact information. USA, Canada, and South America UK and Ireland Thorlabs, Inc.
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