The invention relates to an interferometric method, in which the light scattered by an object is imaged onto an electronic camera, wherein a sample light component is assigned to scattering sites on a sectional face in the interior of the object. This sample light component can be separated from the contributions of the other sample light components by processing of the camera image and leads to a sectional image. A particular advantage of the invention lies in the fact that multiple parallel sectional faces can be exposed sequentially at predetermined intervals from each other in the interior of the object. Such a sequence of sectional images can be used to calculate a solid model of the object.

Improved optical coherence tomography systems and methods to measure thickness of the retina are presented. The systems may be compact, handheld, provide in-home monitoring, allow the patient to measure himself or herself, and be robust enough to be dropped while still measuring the retina reliably.

An optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan device includes an OCT scan device housing, an interferometer disposed in within the OCT scan device housing and including a light source, a fiber optic coupler including an interferometer output, a reference-arm, and a sample-arm. The OCT scan device further includes a power source configured to provide power to the light source and the remaining components of the OCT scan device, and a controller disposed within the OCT scan device housing and configured to adjust lens focusing parameters in the reference-arm and the sample-arm, and control a scanning function of an optical beam emitting from the sample-arm. The OCT scan device is further configured to transmit and receive control instructions and transmit fundus image data.

A high-resolution handheld OCT imaging system related to the optical imaging field solves the issues of handheld OCT systems with low resolution and the inability to measure the skin's stratum corneum thickness accurately. Through adopting the visible wavelength band of supercontinuum laser as the light source, mainly applying reflectors instead of lenses in the OCT system, and replacing fiber propagation with optical propagation in free space in the interference optical paths, to significantly reduce dispersion loss in the axial resolution and improve the axial resolution of OCT systems. The filter, attenuator, grating, camera, and other components are separated from the handheld module through modular design to reduce the handheld terminal's size and weight and realize the system construction. The invention improves the axial resolution, obtains the thickness information of whole-body skin's stratum corneum, and provides technical approaches for skin diagnosis and related medicine development.

A method for measuring a three-dimensional shape includes the steps of: forming a pattern on a light irradiated to an object from a light source unit installed in an electronic device by a pattern unit installed in the electronic device; generating image data by photographing the object to which the light on which the pattern is formed is irradiated by a camera unit installed in the electronic device; generating phase data for the object using the image data, and generating, using the phase data by a data generation unit, feature value data for a feature value of the object; and determining, by a determination unit, whether the feature value data is identical to pre-stored reference value data using the feature value data and the pre-stored reference value data.

A compact and portable apparatus for measuring properties of objects utilizing a fiber optic Sagnac interferometer is enabled. The fiber optic Sagnac interferometer may be a double differential Sagnac interferometer. The interferometer core may be implemented with fiber optic components including polarization maintaining optical fiber, and by utilizing an auto-balanced avalanche photodetector. An optical switch may be incorporated to maintain relatively low average probe signal power while allowing optimal peak probe signal power. The compact and portable apparatus may be configured to measure ultrasonic vibrations, a displacement of an object surface in response to ultrasonic vibrations, and/or a vibration speed of the object surface. A wideband light source may be amplified and stabilized. A sensor head of the interferometer may incorporate a collimator adjustable to block a central portion of the projected probe beam thereby at least in part enabling in-plane and out-of-plane measurements.

An optical coherence tomography scanner for imaging a sample has a wavelength-tunable light source configured to generate scanning light having a range of wavelengths and a scanning probe having a scanning head and one or more optical channels that convey light to and from the scanning head. Each channel has a sample arm with optical fibers for conveying scanning light to the sample and conveying scattered and back-reflected light from the sample to a detector; a reference arm with optical fibers conveying reference light from the wavelength-tunable light source; an optical fiber or fiber system that defines an optical path distance for the sample or reference arm; a detector that generates an output signal according to combined light from the sample arm and conveyed reference light; and a digitizer to generate digital data according to the detector output signal and to communicate the generated digital data to a computer.

A high-resolution handheld OCT imaging system related to the optical imaging field solves the issues of handheld OCT systems with low resolution and the inability to measure the skin's stratum corneum thickness accurately. Through adopting the visible wavelength band of supercontinuum laser as the light source, mainly applying reflectors instead of lenses in the OCT system, and replacing fiber propagation with optical propagation in free space in the interference optical paths, to significantly reduce dispersion loss in the axial resolution and improve the axial resolution of OCT systems. The filter, attenuator, grating, camera, and other components are separated from the handheld module through modular design to reduce the handheld terminal's size and weight and realize the system construction. The invention improves the axial resolution, obtains the thickness information of whole-body skin's stratum corneum, and provides technical approaches for skin diagnosis and related medicine development.

Optical coherence tomography imaging systems and methods are disclosed. According to an aspect, an optical coherence tomography imaging system includes a scanner configured to obtain images and to convert the images to electrical signals. The system also includes a computing device comprising an OCT module configured to receive the electrical signals, to apply an OCT imaging technique, and to generate imaging data.

A mobile or portable device comprises an illuminating arrangement comprising a light source, and an amplitude splitting interferometer configured to form an interferogram of light emitted by the light source. The illuminating arrangement is configured to illuminate a target region lying at a distance of at least 10 cm from the device by the interferogram, thereby projecting a structured light pattern onto the target region. The device further comprises an image sensor configured to capture at least one digital image frame of the target region illuminated by the interferogram, and a processing unit configured to obtain image data of the at least one digital image frame, and determine depth of at least one object location in the target region relative to a reference location on the basis of the obtained image data.