Disclosure of Invention
In order to overcome the defects of the prior art, the invention provides an optical coherence tomography system and method based on parallel detection of an optical fiber array.
An optical coherence tomography system based on parallel detection of an optical fiber array, comprising:
a light source for emitting illumination light;
a reference arm for generating reference light required for detecting a coherent signal;
the sampling arm is used for transmitting illumination light to a sample and receiving signal light, and consists of an optical fiber array and an optical imaging system; the optical fiber array comprises a main optical fiber and a peripheral optical fiber bundle, wherein the central main optical fiber transmits illumination light and receives low-frequency signal light, and the peripheral optical fiber bundle receives high-frequency signal light;
the detection arm is used for receiving a multi-channel coherent signal formed by the signal light of the optical fiber array and the reference light of the reference arm;
and the computer is used for processing the multi-channel coherent signals and reconstructing a transverse ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography image.
Preferably, the single-mode polarization-maintaining fiber is connected with the light source, the reference arm, the sampling arm and the detection arm; light emitted by the light source is divided into two paths by the first optical fiber coupler; one path of light enters the reference arm and is reversely transmitted after passing through a collimating lens and a reflector in the reference arm; and the other path enters a sampling arm to illuminate the sample.
The reference light transmitted reversely is guided to the second optical fiber coupler of the detection arm by the first optical fiber coupler, and is decomposed to the reference light port of the optical fiber coupler array by the second optical fiber coupler, and the reference light and the signal light of each channel in the optical fiber array are connected to the detection arm through the optical fiber coupler array.
A first optical fiber isolator for preventing reverse transmission is connected in the single-mode polarization maintaining optical fiber between the light source and the first optical fiber coupler; and a second optical fiber isolator for preventing reverse transmission is connected in the single-mode polarization-maintaining optical fiber between the first optical fiber coupler and the sampling arm.
Preferably, a fiber polarization controller is arranged in each branch of the fiber array to adjust the contrast of the coherent signal of each channel.
Preferably, the optical fiber array is composed of a main optical fiber located at the central position and a peripheral annularly arranged optical fiber bundle, and one end of the optical fiber array located at the sampling arm is circularly arranged.
Preferably, a corresponding detector is arranged in the detection arm corresponding to each channel, and the time domain information or the frequency domain information of the coherent signals of each channel is detected respectively.
An optical coherence tomography method based on parallel detection of an optical fiber array comprises the following steps:
1) light emitted by the light source is divided into two paths through the optical fiber coupler, wherein one path enters the reference arm, and the other path enters the main optical fiber of the sampling arm; the illumination light entering the main optical fiber is projected to a sample by the sampling arm, and the backscattered signal light of the sample is received by the optical fiber array through the sampling arm and guided into the detection arm; the light entering the reference arm is reflected and then guided into the detection arm; the reference light and the signal light of each channel are received by the corresponding detector after being coherent and are led into a computer for signal processing;
2) determining effective point spread functions of each optical fiber port and a main optical fiber port relative to the sampling arm according to the spatial position of each optical fiber in the optical fiber array on the sampling arm, translating the effective point spread functions corresponding to the peripheral optical fibers to the effective point spread functions corresponding to the main optical fibers, and generating a system effective point spread function by overlapping all the effective point spread functions;
3) the sampling arm (3) is controlled to scan the sample, and each channel corresponds to a detector to obtain two-dimensional or three-dimensional structure information of the sample;
4) fourier transform is carried out on the obtained time domain information or frequency domain information of the coherent signals of each channel along the depth direction, and the signals of each channel are converted into a space domain;
5) superposing the spatial domain information of the channels corresponding to all the peripheral optical fibers and the spatial domain information of the channel corresponding to the main optical fiber, then taking an average value according to all the channel numbers, then carrying out transverse deconvolution operation by using the system effective point spread function obtained in the step 2), and finally reconstructing a transverse ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography image.
The invention is realized by the following technical scheme:
on the system, a sampling arm introduces an optical fiber array, a central main optical fiber transmits an illumination light beam, and the whole optical fiber array receives a back scattering signal of a scanned area of a sample; the other end of the optical fiber array couples the sample signal light received by each optical fiber with the corresponding reference light through the optical fiber coupler array; the reference light is uniformly distributed to one end of the corresponding optical fiber coupler array through the 1 XN coupler; the coherent signal light of each channel is received by a corresponding single-point detector or spectral detector.
In the method, the three-dimensional real-value interference spectrogram acquired by the system can be expressed as S
n(r, k), where r represents the lateral space coordinate, k represents the wavenumber space coordinate, and the subscript n represents the channel number. S
n(r, k) Fourier transform is carried out along the k direction to obtain space domain information A corresponding to each measuring channel
n(r, z), where z represents a depth space coordinate. Superposing all channel space domain information to calculate an average value to obtain a measurement image to be processed
Where N represents the total number of channels. According to the arrangement condition of the optical fiber array on the sampling arm, the effective point spread function of the sampling arm imaging system corresponding to the central main optical fiber can be expressed as h
c(x, y), the effective point spread function of the sampling arm imaging system corresponding to the ith peripheral optical fiber can be expressed as h
i(x, y). The effective point spread functions of the system can be obtained by translating the effective point spread functions corresponding to each peripheral optical fiber to the position corresponding to the central optical fiber and superposing the effective point spread functions
Wherein x
iAnd y
iIndicating the position offset of the peripheral ith fiber relative to the central fiber. Finally using M (r, z) and h
effThe deconvolution operation of (x, y) reconstructs an optical coherence tomography image with ultrahigh transverse resolution, namely I (r, z) ═ dev (M, h)
eff) Where dev represents a deconvolution operation.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:
1) through the parallel detection mode of the optical fiber array, more high-frequency scattering signals in the same scanning area can be obtained; by deconvoluting the intermediate image by using the synthesized system effective point spread function, the high-frequency signal obtained in the measurement can be recovered, and the high-transverse-resolution optical coherence tomography image can be obtained.
2) More signal lights can be obtained by simultaneously measuring the same scanning position for N times; and the data processing utilizes summation to obtain an average value, so that the signal-to-noise ratio of the system can be effectively improved.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following examples and drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
An optical coherence tomography system based on parallel detection of an optical fiber array is shown in figure 1 in basic structure and comprises a light source 1, a reference arm 2, a sampling arm 3, a detection arm 4 and a computer 5; wherein the detection arm 4 consists of an optical fiber array 10, an optical imaging system 11 and a light beam scanning device; the optical fiber array 10 is circularly arranged at one end of the detection arm, the main optical fiber is positioned at the central position, the other end of the optical fiber array is firstly connected with a corresponding optical fiber polarization controller group 13, then the optical fiber array and the optical fiber bundle for transmitting reference light are connected into the optical fiber coupler array 12, and the optical fibers output from the optical fiber coupler array 12 are linearly arranged; the reference arm 2 comprises a collimating lens and a reflecting mirror, and provides reference light for generating a coherent signal; the detection arm 4 consists of a detector array and a data acquisition unit, and the detection array can consist of a single detector or a spectrum detector; the computer receives the system detection signal and carries out related processing, sends out a light beam scanning control signal according to the data acquisition rate, and displays the reconstructed high-transverse-resolution optical coherence tomography image; the first optical fiber isolator 6 and the second optical fiber isolator 7 respectively isolate optical signals transmitted in the reverse direction of the optical fiber from entering a light source and a reference signal; the first optical fiber coupler is of a 2 x 2 type structure, and the second optical fiber coupler is of a 1 x N type structure.
After passing through the first optical fiber isolator 6, part of coherent light emitted by the light source enters the first optical fiber coupler 7, and the light emitted by the light source is divided into two paths by the first optical fiber coupler 7; one path of light enters the reference arm 2, is reversely transmitted after passing through the collimating lens and the reflecting mirror, then enters the other end of the first optical fiber coupler 7, is guided to the second optical fiber coupler 8 of the detection arm, and is decomposed to a reference light port of the optical fiber coupler array 12; the other path of light firstly enters the sampling arm through the second optical fiber isolator 9, is transmitted through the central main optical fiber of the optical fiber array 10 and the optical imaging system 11, and forms an illumination area in the sample 14, when the light beam scanning device in the sampling arm 3 receives control information sent by a computer, the illumination light beam scans in the sample, and two-dimensional or three-dimensional information of the sample can be obtained; the back scattering signal light of the sample enters the fiber array through the optical imaging system 11, and each fiber becomes a channel of the signal light; each path of signal light enters a signal light port of the optical fiber coupler array 12 after being controlled and adjusted by the optical fiber polarization connected with the optical fiber; each path of signal light and reference light are guided into the detection arm 4 from the output end of the optical fiber coupler group; each path of coherent signal output by the optical fiber coupler array in the detection arm is provided with a detector, and when the time domain optical coherent chromatographic signal is measured, the detector is a single-point detector; when the frequency domain optical coherence tomography signal is measured, the detector is a spectrum detector or a balance detector; after all coherent signals received by the detection arm are converted, the coherent signals are input into a computer for processing and analysis, and a transverse ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography image is reconstructed.
The present embodiment is illustrated by way of example, but not limited to, a spectral domain optical coherence tomography signal. An optical coherence tomography method based on parallel detection of an optical fiber array specifically comprises the following steps:
1) according to the spatial position of each optical fiber in the optical fiber array on the sampling arm, the effective point spread function of the sampling arm imaging system corresponding to the central main optical fiber is determined and can be expressed as hc(x, y), the effective point spread function of the sampling arm imaging system corresponding to the ith peripheral optical fiber can be written into hi(x, y), translating the effective point spread function corresponding to the peripheral optical fiber to the effective point spread function corresponding to the main optical fiber, and generating a system effective point spread function h through superpositioneff(x, y), the system effective point spread function:
in the formula x
iAnd y
iIndicating the position offset of the peripheral ith fiber relative to the central fiber.
2) By controlling the scanning device of the sampling arm 3, the detector corresponding to each channel obtains the two-dimensional or three-dimensional structure information of the combined sample, and the system obtains the three-dimensional real-value interference spectrogram of each channel and can be expressed as Sn(r, k), where r represents a transverse spatial coordinate and k represents a waveNumber space coordinates, subscript n representing the channel number;
3) fourier transform is carried out on the obtained coherent spectrum domain information of each channel along the depth direction, signals of each channel are converted into a space domain, and then space domain information A corresponding to each measuring channeln(r, z), wherein z represents a depth space coordinate;
4) superposing the spatial domain information of the channels corresponding to all the peripheral optical fibers and the spatial domain information of the channel corresponding to the main optical fiber, and then taking an average value according to the total channel number to obtain a measurement image to be processed
Wherein N represents the total number of channels;
5) reuse of the system effective point spread function h obtained in 1)eff(x, y) a transverse deconvolution operation is performed on the measurement image M (r, z), i.e., I (r, z) ═ dev (M, h)eff) And dev represents deconvolution operation, and finally, a transverse ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography image is reconstructed.
The above description is only exemplary of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.