The present invention relates to a system and a method for optically measuring internal dimensions of an object by means of optical coherence tomography, wherein said object comprises internal interfaces at which the (optical) refraction index changes, so that a portion of incident light is backreflected and/or backscattered and can be detected. The object can generally be any sample object that is at least partially transparent in an at least internal partial volume for wavelengths in a wavelength range of operating wavelength used by an optical coherence tomography (OCT) device for measuring internal dimensions in said volume. The object may comprise relatively complex external and internal structures associated with refraction index changes, and may for example be an object made of transparent plastics having complex internal structures made from modifications of the plastics associated with differing refraction indices, or samples of biological tissue, such as an eye, in particular a human eye.
Applications of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to the characterization of geometrical and optical characteristics of notably human eyes are known, e.g. in the diagnosis of the eye, when measuring the geometrical and optical characteristics of different sections of the eye and of the eye as a whole which are relevant to obtain a model of the individual eye of a patient as a basis for developing an optimum treatment plan for the patient's eye for refractive surgery including e.g. laser-based refraction corrections. At present, different diagnosis devices based on different measurement principles must be involved to obtain a precise diagnostic of the geometrical and optical characteristics of different sections of the eye, including e.g. the corneal and anterior segment (CAS) of the eye, and of the eye as a whole including the eye's length and the geometric structure of rear portions of the eye including the retina. The precision required, i.e. an axial resolution Δz and a lateral resolution Δx, is different for the afore-mentioned sections of the eye. For example, the axial resolution obtained with conventional devices in characterizing the topography and thickness of the CAS is between approximately 5 and 10 μm, while a precision resp. measurement accuracy or resolution of less than 3 μm, preferably less than 1 μm, would be desirable for an optimum planning and a priori calculation of a refractive correction treatment. On the other hand, the length, notably the axial length, of the eye and positions of major refraction index interfaces distributed along the length require only an accuracy resp. resolution Δz of approximately 50 μm or better. Conventionally, treatment plannings in (optical) refractive surgery of an eye are based on individual measurements with different diagnosis devices, which may use different measurement and evaluation principles. This renders problems when integrating the measurement data obtained from the different devices into a single model of an individual eye and attempting establishing a single integrated treatment, e.g. refractive surgery, planning. Also, the use of different diagnosis devices is time consuming because the devices are used sequentially and may require device-specific adjustments between the device and the eye to be characterized.
As an example, conventional treatment plannings in refractive surgery of the eye may use different diagnosis devices manufactured by the applicant, which include the so-called Allegro Topolyzer (Trademark) which is used to obtain cornea topography, notably of the cornea front surface and registration of post chamber surfaces (PCS), iris, pupil, limbus and apex; the Allegro Oculyzer (Trademark) for obtaining the topography of front and rear surfaces of the cornea, the thickness of the cornea as well as some geometric data of the anterior chamber of the eye (e.g. anterior chamber depth); Allegro Analyzer (Trademark) for obtaining integral wavefront data and perturbations of the eye as a whole resulting from individual aberrations of e.g. the cornea, lens and vitreous body as well as for obtaining a registration of the iris, pupil, limbus and blood vessels; the Allegro Biograph for determining the thickness of the cornea, the axial length of the eye as a whole and the length resp. thicknesses of further sections and elements of the eye including e.g. the anterior chamber and the lens as well as a registration of the pupil, apex, iris, limbus and blood vessels; and the Pachymeter for local, i.e. pointwise, measurement of the thickness in the center of the cornea and determining the depth of cuts and flap thickness e.g. in Laser in-situ Kerato-milieusis (LASIK). Comparable devices with corresponding properties and limitations are produced by other manufacturers and used in state of the art diagnostics of, and (refractive correction) treatment planning for, the human eye.
Conventional diagnosis devices aiming to precisely measure the frontal section of the eye, including the cornea, anterior chamber, iris, post chamber and the frontal surface of the lens (see
An example of a high quality in vivo imaging OCT device for anterior segment imaging is disclosed in the article “Anterior segment imaging with Spectral OCT system using a high-speed CMOS camera” by I. Grulkowski et al., published on 12 Mar. 2009 in OPTICS EXPRESS 4842, Vol. 17, No. 6. Another example is disclosed in the article “Extended in vivo anterior eye-segment imaging with full-range complex is spectral domain optical coherence tomography” by J. Jungwirth et al., published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics Letters, Vol. 14(5), September/October 2009. A further example of a measurement of the anterior segment is a device CASIA SS-1000 manufactured by the company TOMEY and described in the system specifications issued therewith.
A first example of the state of the art for measuring the full axial length of an eye, as used to generate a 3D tomogram model, is disclosed in the article “Three-dimensional ophthalmic optical coherence tomography with a refraction correction algorithm”, by R. J. Zawadzki et al., published in SPIE proceedings, Vol. 5140 and in the article “Iterative Berechnung von Ablationsprofilen in der Refraktiven Chirurgie” by Dr. H. P. Iseli et al., published in Augenspiegel, Vol. 20, July-August 2008.
While the discussion of the state of the art of optical measurements of internal dimensions of a sample object comprising internal interfaces at which the refraction index changes focused on particular applications related to the diagnosis of the eye, similar constraints and limitations are also encountered in optical investigations of other types of objects as mentioned above.
In view of the afore-mentioned problems of the state of the art related to the use of different devices for obtaining the different characteristics in different internal partial volumes of an object, such as the eye, it is a general object of the present invention to save diagnosis time and cost associated with the use of various diagnosis devices, and a particular technical goal to achieve adequate accuracy of the measurement (resolution) for the different sections of the eye to enable a precise individual (customized) treatment for visual correction of a patient's eye.
The object is achieved, according to the invention, in general by providing a single system that allows to measure and obtain the different data in a practically single measurement operation, for example a single diagnostic investigation. In other words, the patient experiences (suffers) one measurement activity only even if more than one parameter is measured. The invention involves the integration of different optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices dedicated to different measurement tasks, to the measurement of different internal partial volumes of the object to be investigated with different appropriate (axial and lateral) resolution resp. accuracy.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, as claimed, there is provided a system for optically measuring internal dimensions of an object comprising internal interfaces at which the refraction index changes so that a portion of incident light is backreflected and/or backscattered and can be detected, by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT), the system comprising at least one first OCT device adapted to measure internal dimensions in a first partial volume of the object.
According to the invention, the system is characterized by a combination with at least one second OCT device adapted to measure internal dimensions in a second partial volume of the same object, wherein said second partial volume is at least partially different from the first partial volume.
The combination of a first and a second OCT device into a single system allows to measure internal dimensions in different internal volumes of the sample object with different appropriate resp. required accuracy using a single system, in a shorter time as compared to using two separate OCT devices each in a single measurement operation.
The first partial volume may be located near or at a front side of the sample object. The front side may essentially face the system. And the second partial volume may be located near or at a rear side of the object or may extend essentially from the front side to the rear side of the object. The object may for example be an eye, particularly a human eye. Measuring the internal dimensions in different partial volumes of the object, notably the eye, with a single integrated system saves time and measurement effort, and in the case of investigating an eye reduces the suffering experienced by a patient.
The first OCT device may comprise a first reference arm and a first sample arm and the second OCT device may comprise a second reference arm and a second sample arm, wherein at least a section of the first sample arm and a section of the second sample arm are directed toward the same said object. Preferably, said section of the second sample arm is at least partially superimposed spatially with said section of the
first sample arm. More preferably, said section of the second sample arm and said section of the first sample arm are directed through a common lens system. Directing the first and second sample arm toward the same object, wherein both sample arms are preferably spatially superimposed and eventually directed through a common lens system, allows to measure different features of an object involving only one single mechanical adjustment of the object with respect to the claimed system.
The first OCT device may be adapted to measure the first partial volume located near or at a front side of the object, such as the corneal and anterior section (CAS) of an eye. The second OCT device may be adapted to measure a length, as measured e.g. along a depth direction, resp. the second partial volume of the object, e.g. the total length from the anterior surface of the cornea to the retina of an eye. Combining the first and second OCT device with their different measurement targets (different partial volumes to be measured) allows reducing the cost, time and measurement effort as compared to adjusting and using different measurement devices sequentially to measure the object. In addition, the combined OCT diagnostic device provides a complete data set necessary to calculate the imaging properties of the eye as a whole with suitable accuracy in one procedure (“in one shot”).
The first and second OCT devices may be adapted, respectively, to emit a first and second beam each focused with a pre-determined first and second focal length, respectively, wherein the first focal length may be shorter than the second focal length. This allows to measure different target internal volumes located at different depth with respect to a front surface of the object.
The first OCT device may be adapted to emit a first beam of first radiation having wavelengths in a first wavelength range defined by a first operating wavelength and a first bandwidth, thus defining a first axial resolution. The second OCT may be adapted to emit a second beam of second radiation having wavelengths in a second wavelength range defined by a second operating wavelength and a second bandwidth, thus defining a second axial resolution. Then, the first axial resolution may be higher than the second axial resolution. Preferably, the first axial resolution may be less than 5 μm and the second axial resolution may be greater than 15 μm. More preferably, the first bandwidth may be greater than approximately 100 nm and the second bandwidth may be smaller than approximately 20 nm. Still more preferably, the first operating wavelength may be in a range from about 700 to about 1350 nm, preferably about 700 to about 900 nm, more preferably about 750 to about 850 nm, and in particular approximately 820 nm; the first bandwidth may be in the range between about 100 nm and about 200 nm. The second operating wavelength may be in a range from about 600 nm to about 1000 nm, preferably about 620 to about 750 nm, alternatively about 800 to about 1000 nm, in particular approximately 700 nm; the second bandwidth may be in the range between approximately 5 nm and 10 nm. Providing different axial resolutions in the measurement of different internal dimensions and partial volumes of the object allows to save measurement time and reduces data volumes and data volume storage requirements, where a lower high resolution over smaller dimensions is required, whereas a lower resolution over larger dimensions is sufficient, resulting in less data to be processed as compared to a system measuring in both volumes with the same high resolution.
The first OCT device may be adapted to emit a first beam of focused radiation having wavelengths in a first wavelength range defined by a first operating wavelength and a first numerical aperture, thus defining a first lateral resolution. The second OCT device may be adapted to emit a second beam of focused radiation having wavelengths in a second wavelength range having a second operating wavelength and a second numerical aperture, thus defining a second lateral resolution. Then, the first lateral resolution may be different from the second lateral resolution. Preferably, the first lateral resolution may be higher than the second lateral resolution. More preferably, the first lateral resolution is approximately 10 μm to 20 μm (and still more preferably in combination with an axial resolution of 1 μm to 3 μm) and the second lateral resolution is approximately 50 μm to 200 μm (and still more preferably in combination with an axial resolution of 10 μm to 50 μm). Providing different lateral resolutions in different beams of focused radiation allows to adapt the resolution to different application requirements and to save measurement time, data amounts and data storage requirements.
The first OCT device may be a spectral-domain OCT device and the second OCT device may be a time-domain OCT device. Alternatively, both the first OCT device and the second OCT device may be a spectral-domain OCT device. Still alternatively, both the first and the second OCT device may be a time-domain OCT device. Adapting the type of the OCT device (spectral-domain or time-domain) to the different partial volumes of the object to be investigated allows optimizing measurement accuracy, minimizing measurement time and adapting/optimizing the speed of data acquisition according to the application of investigating an object.
The first OCT device may have a first sample arm comprising a first lens system and a common lens system, wherein the first lens system and the common lens system are arranged on a first optical axis and in combination form a first focused portion of a first beam in the first sample arm, wherein the first focused beam portion has a first focal length. The second OCT device may have a second sample arm comprising a third lens system, said common lens system and a spectrally partially reflecting mirror arranged between the first lens system and the common lens system so as to direct a second beam passing along a direction of a second optical axis through the third lens system into the direction of the first optical axis and passing through said common lens system, wherein the third lens system and the common lens system in combination form a second focused portion of a second beam in the second sample arm, wherein the second focused beam portion has a second focal length. In this configuration, the first focal length may be different from the second focal length. Preferably, the first focal length is smaller than the second focal length. The focal length determines the depth range (range of measurement). Accordingly, more preferably, the second focal depth is designed so (i.e. sufficiently long) that the whole axial length of the eye can be measured by the second OCT device. Such arrangements, wherein the second sample arm emerges from a second direction along a second optical axis different from the direction of the first optical axis of the first beam, and is then re-directed into the direction of the first optical axis, and then passes through a common lens system together with the first beam, allows to design the first OCT device to be different from the second OCT device e.g. as concerns the type (spectral-domain or time-domain) of the OCT device, the axial and lateral resolution, the selection of the wavelength range of the radiation, the intensity of the radiation and the modulation in time of the radiation generated by the first and second OCT device. —In an alternative embodiment, e.g. intended for applications different from measurements of an eye, the second focal length may be smaller than the first focal length.
The first OCT device may comprise a first light source having a first operating wavelength and a first bandwidth and the second OCT device may comprise a second light source having a second operating wavelength and a second bandwidth. In this configuration, the first bandwidth may be greater than approximately 100 nm and the second bandwidth may be smaller than approximately 20 nm. Preferably, the first operating wavelength may be approximately 820 nm, the first bandwidth may be in the range between approximately 100 nm and about 250 nm (preferably between approximately 100 nm and about 200 nm), and the second operating wavelength may be approximately 700 nm and the second bandwidth may be smaller than 20 nm, and preferably in the range between about 5 nm and about 10 nm. Such spectral configuration of the first and second OCT devices allows the first partial volume to be investigated with a different axial resolution and preferably at a different operating wavelength as compared to the second partial volume.
The first OCT device may have a first sample arm and the second OCT device may have a second sample arm that is at least partially superimposed spatially on the first sample arm. The first and second sample arm may pass through a bi-focal common optical lens system comprising a first focussing portion acting in the first sample arm and having a first focal length and a second focussing portion acting in the second sample arm and having a second focal length. In this configuration, the first focal length may be smaller than the second focal length. —In a preferred first embodiment, the first focussing portion is a circular central portion of the bi-focal length system and the second focussing portion is an annular portion surrounding the first focussing portion. More preferably, the first and second focussing portions may have different spectral transmittance characteristics, each adapted to define an appropriate wavelength range as defined by a respective operating wavelength and bandwidth, according to the need of the investigation of the respective partial volumes, which may be at different distances resp. depths in the object, to which the respective focal lengths of the first and second focusing portion of the common lens system is adapted. —In an preferred alternative second embodiment, the bi-focal length system is embodied as a suitably designed Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) having at least two complementary regions, the first region being designed to render the first focal length and the second region being designed to render the second focal length.
The first OCT device and the second OCT device may comprise a common light source. This further reduces system costs and increases the degree of integration of the first and second OCT device.
The first OCT device may comprise a first reference arm and the second OCT device may comprise a second reference arm which is at least partially superimposed spatially on the first reference arm. The first reference arm may have an optical path length corresponding substantially to the optical path length of the first sample arm and may comprise a first mirror and a first reference arm lens system forming a first reference arm portion that is focused onto the first mirror. The second reference arm may have an optical path length corresponding substantially to the optical path length of the second sample arm and may comprise a second mirror, a second reference arm partially reflecting mirror arranged in the first reference arm in front of the first reference arm lens system and a second reference arm lens system arranged outside of the first reference arm and substantially between the second reference arm partially reflecting mirror and the second reference arm lens system, wherein the partially reflecting mirror re-directs a beam of light having a wavelength in a second wavelength range defined e.g. by a second operating wavelength and a second bandwidth and passing through the first reference arm lens system along a first reference arm direction into a second reference arm direction and through the second reference arm lens system, and wherein the second reference arm partially reflecting mirror and the second reference arm lens system form in combination a second reference arm portion that is focused onto the second mirror. Such configuration allows an at least partial integration resp. superposition of the first and second reference arms of, respectively, the first and second OCT device, while allowing the optical path lengths of the first and second reference arms to correspond substantially to the optical path lengths of the corresponding first and second sample arm.
In an alternative embodiment of the reference arms, the first OCT device comprises the first focussing portion being adapted to act on the first reference arm passing through a first focussing portion of a bi-focal reference arm common lens system and the second OCT device comprises a second reference arm which is at least partially superimposed spatially on the first reference arm and passes through a second focussing portion of said bi-focal reference arm common lens system, wherein the second focussing portion is adapted to act on the second reference arm. In this embodiment, the first reference arm further comprises a first mirror that is spectrally partially reflecting light having wavelengths in a first wavelength range defined e.g. by a first operating wavelength and a first bandwidth, and the second reference arm further comprises a second mirror that is spectrally reflecting light having wavelengths in a second wavelength range defined e.g. by a second operating wavelength and a second bandwidth. The focal length of the first focussing portion may be adapted such that the optical path length of the first reference arm corresponds substantially to the optical path length of the first sample arm and the focal length of the second focussing portion may be adapted such that the optical path length of the second reference arm corresponds substantially to the optical path length of the second sample arm. Preferably, the first focussing portion of the bi-focal reference arm common lens system is a circular central portion and the second focal portion is an angular portion surrounding the first focussing portion. In one configuration, the first and the second focussing portion of the bi-focal reference arm common lens system have different spectral transmission characteristics adapted to the application requirements of first and second beams targeting resp. first and second partial volumes of the object to be investigated. In an alternative configuration, a spectral filter having a selected spectral transmittance characteristic may be arranged behind the bi-focal reference arm common lens system.
According to a second aspect of the invention, as claimed, there is provided a method for optically measuring internal dimensions of an object comprising internal interfaces at which the refraction index changes so that a portion of incident light is backreflected and/or backscattered and can be detected. The object may for example be an eye.
According to the invention, the method comprises a step of measuring internal dimensions in a first partial volume of the object and internal dimensions in a second partial volume of the object by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in a single measurement operation, wherein the second partial volume is at least partially different from the first partial volume. This method achieves the same technical effect and advantages as the claimed system defined hereinbefore.
When performing the claimed method, a system as described above may be used.
Further embodiments, advantages and technical effects of the invention may become apparent from the following detailed description of particular embodiments, which is not intended to imposing restrictions on the scope of the invention and which provided with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
In operation of the SD-OCT 100, the light source 102 generates broadband light radiation, i.e. light radiation comprising radiation of wavelength distributed in a relatively broad spectral wavelength range. The generated radiation is transmitted through the light source optical fibre 104 via the fibre coupler 106 through the bi-directionally used optical fibre 108, from a distal end of which the radiation is emitted in the form of a divergent beam B1 passing through the first sample arm lens system 110, which reforms the beam B1 into a beam of essentially parallel light (as shown in
The object 10 comprises in its internal volume a plurality of internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ at which the refraction index changes and which therefore cause partial reflections of focused beam illuminating the object 10. The radiation reflected from the plural internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ is collected by the second sample arm lens system 114, transmitted therethrough as a beam of essentially parallel light, transmits through the beam splitter 112 and is focused by the first sample arm lens system 110 into the distal end of the bi-directionally used optical fibre 108.
Another portion of the radiation transmitted from the bi-directionally used optical fibre 108 through the first sample arm lens system 110 as a beam of essentially parallel radiation is partially reflected by an internal substantially plane surface, which is oblique, preferably at an angle of substantially 45° oriented with respect to the incoming beam of essentially parallel radiation, so as to form the reference arm RA1 directed toward the reference arm lens system 116, which focuses the beam of essentially parallel radiation onto the reference arm mirror 117. The reference arm mirror 117 is arranged stationary and reflects the beam of focused radiation, so that the reflected diverging radiation is collected by the reference arm lens system 116 which transmits the reflected radiation as a beam of essentially parallel radiation from the reference arm. The radiation returning from the reference arm is directed by said plane internal surface of the beam splitter 112 toward the first sample arm lens system 110, which transmits and focuses the light returning from the reference arm RA1 onto the distal end of the bi-directionally used optical fibre 108. The optical fibre 108 thus transmits both the radiation returning from the sample arm SA1 as reflected from the internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ of the object 10 and the radiation returning from the reference arm RA1 as reflected from the reference arm mirror 117, allowing these radiation beams to interfere. The interfering radiation is transmitted through the optical fibre 108, via the fibre coupler 106 into and through the detection arm optical fibre 118, from a distal end of which the interfering radiation emerges as a diverging beam, which is collected and transmitted by the first detection lens system 120 into a beam of essentially parallel light toward the optical grating 122. The grating 122 reflects the incoming beam of interference light into a plurality of beams of essentially parallel light with different reflection angles according to the different wavelengths of the radiation impinging on the grating 122. The structure and function of the grating 122 as a spectrally resolving element reflecting impinging radiation at different reflection angles according to the wavelength of the radiation, is known to the skilled person, so that a description thereof is omitted here.
The plurality of spectrally resolved beams of radiation reflected from the grating 122 is collected by the second detection lens system 124 and focused, according to the reflection angle from the grating 122, onto the spectrometer detector array, on which the focused, spectrally resolved beams impinge on, and are detected by, respective ones of the plurality of detector cells 128-1 to 128-n.
According to this arrangement of the first detection lens 120, the optical grating 122, the second detection lens system 124 and the spectrometer detector array 126, a particular position along the spectrometer detector array 126 resp. a particular detector cell 128-i corresponds to a respective particular wavelength of the interference radiation originating from the interference of the radiation returning from the sample arm SA1 and from the reference arm RA1. The spectrometer detector array 126 thus detects the spectrally resolved interference pattern 130, which is essentially a spectral distribution of the intensity of the interference radiation. The spectral distribution is submitted to a Fourier transformation, implemented for example in the fast Fourier transformation calculation unit 132, to yield the depth distribution 134 of refractive index interfaces illustrated in
In other words, the broadband spectral distribution of radiation emitted from the light source 102 interferes, after reflection from the refractive index discontinuities resp. internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ in the object 10 in the sample arm SA1, with the broadband spectral distribution of radiation reflected in the reference arm RA1. The respective interfering spectral intervals corresponding to the spectral resolution achieved by the optical grating 122 in combination with the particular detector cells 128-i, correspond to information from different depths of the internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ in the object 10. The calculated Fourier transformation of the spectrum registered by the spectrometer detector array 126 then yields information on the depth position of the interfaces along the depth direction z within the object 10.
In case the object 10 is a human eye, the refractive index differences of the different portions of the eye 20 (as illustrated in
In the operation of the TD-OCT 150, the light source 152 emits radiation which suffices to be of relatively low coherence and which comprises a relatively narrow wavelength range. The radiation emitted by the light source 152 is transmitted through the first light source optical fibre 154 via the optional circulator 155, through the second light source optical fibre 156, via the optical fibre coupler 158 in which it is split into a first radiation portion propagating into the sample arm SA2 and a second radiation portion propagating into the reference arm RA2.
The first radiation portion is transmitted through the sample arm optical fibre 160, from a distal end of which it emerges as a diverging beam which is collected by the first sample arm lens system 162 transmitting the diverging beam as a beam of essentially parallel light toward the second sample arm lens system 164. The lens system 164 transmits and focuses the beam into a focused beam, the focus of which is located in the object 10. Respective internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ partially reflect portions of the incoming light back toward the second sample arm lens system 164 which collects the plurality of radiation portions reflected from the plurality of internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ and transmits these toward the first sample arm lens system 162, which focuses the reflected radiation portions returning from the sample arm SA2 onto the distal end of the sample arm optical fibre 160, which transmits this radiation via the fibre coupler 158 into the first detection optical fibre 174.
The second radiation portion split by the fiber coupler 158 is transmitted in the reference arm RA2 through the reference arm optical fibre 166, from a distal end of which it emerges as a diverging beam. This is collected by the reference arm lens system 168 and transmitted as a beam of essentially parallel radiation towards the modulated reference arm mirror 170. The reference arm mirror 170 is moved at high speed in a periodic manner to and fro along an axial direction of this portion of the reference arm RA2 by the high-speed delay scanner 172 (as indicated by the double arrow shown in
The interference light is transmitted through the first detection optical fibre 174 to an input port (−) of an entrance stage of the detector 178, where a time dependency of the intensity of the interference radiation is detected and registered.
As an optional means for improving the signal-to-noise ratio and e.g. by performing a background subtraction, a portion of the radiation emitted by the light source 152 is transmitted by the circulator 155 into and through the second detection optical fibre 176 to another input port (+) of the entrance stage of the detector 178. The detector 178 subtracts from a signal from the interference radiation a signal from the radiation emitted by the light source 152 and “tapped” by the circulator 155. Due to this configuration of the detector 178 having the (+) and (−) entrance ports, excess noise from the signal of the light source 152 is subtracted from the signal of the interference radiation, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio. The so obtained signal is fed through the band pass filter 180 and to the demodulator 182 to remove a high-frequency component resulting from the high-speed modulation of the delay scanner 172 in the reference arm RA2. The so obtained signal is fed to, and registered in, the computer 184, which calculates from the received signal the desired depth information of the internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ in the object 10.
In the TD-OCT 150, the narrow band interference radiation is reduced by the interference of radiation reflected from the internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″ in the object 10 in the sample arm SA2 with radiation returning from the reference arm RA2, the optical path length of which is scanned resp. varied by means of the periodic movement of the mirror 170 as generated by the delay scanner 172.
OCT devices of the spectral-domain type (as exemplified in
From fundamental principles of optics it can be derived, and is known to the skilled person, that the axial resolution Δz of an OCT device, hence the accuracy for obtaining depth positions of the internal interfaces 14, 14′, 14″, is determined essentially by a bandwidth (Δλ) and a center wavelength (λ0) of the radiation used according to:
wherein n is the refractive index of a medium presenting the partially reflecting interface. In case that the object 10 is a human eye 20 illustrated in
The accuracy, by which the depth information is obtained in a lateral direction with respect to the axial direction (z), i.e. the lateral resolution Δx is essentially determined by:
wherein NA is the numerical aperture of a focusing lens system, f is the focal length of the lens system which focuses the radiation in the sample arm on the object 10.
The axial range, from which a sufficiently intensive portion of radiation is reflected resp. scattered back in the object 10, is of the order of magnitude of the depth of focus (DOF) of the lens system which focuses the radiation into the object 10, and is determined by the focal length f respectively the numerical aperture NA of the lens system according to:
DOF∝1/NA2∝f2 (3)
When evaluating equations (1), (2) and (3) for an axially extending object for which the second partial volume extends substantially along the total length of the object and the first partial volume is near or at the front side 16 of the object 10 and extends from the front side over only e.g. one tenth of the total axial length, it becomes clear that an OCT device adapted to measure internal surfaces within the first partial volume with adequate accuracy cannot also measure internal interfaces distributed along the total length, i.e. the second partial volume, with the same resolution as in the first partial volume of the object 10. In particular, when the object 10 is a human eye 20 (as shown in
In conventional practice, the intra-ocular structures of the CAS of an eye 20 are measured using an OCT device of the spectral-domain type having a relatively high axial resolution of less than 10 μm, where the axial resolution is in the range from about 1 μm to 3 μm. For a precise measurement of the various interfaces of the CAS of the eye, it is possible within the scope of the invention, and highly desirable if not necessary, to employ an SD-type OCT device of the latest state of the art, where the axial resolution is less than 1 μm.
On the other hand, the eye length is conventionally measured e.g. by devices based on the principle of optical low coherence reflectometry (OLCR) or using OCT devices of the time-domain type, wherein the length of the reference arm must be varied (scanned) over a length corresponding to the length of the eye, wherein this is achieved by axially scanning a mirror over such a length equivalent or by laterally moving a prism having a corresponding basis, as implemented e.g. in an OLCR type of device manufactured by the company Haag-Streit.
As stated above, according to the invention, in order to enable simultaneous or quasi simultaneous measurement of both a first partial volume extending only over a relatively small portion of the total length of an object with sufficiently high resolution and a second partial volume extending e.g. along the total length or being axially spaced from the first partial volume by an axial distance of e.g. more than one half of the total length of the object, there is proposed to combine (integrate) a first and a second OCT device adapted to measure, respectively, internal dimensions in the first and the second partial volume of the object. Particular embodiments thereof are described in the following with reference to
In the embodiments described in the following, it is assumed that the first partial volume 17 is located near or at the front side 16 of the object 10 and is measured by a first OCT device OCT1 having a focal range DOF1 extending substantially across the first partial volume 17, and that the second partial volume extends from the front side 16 to the rear side 18 of the object 10 and is measured by a second OCT device OCT2 having a corresponding depth of focus DOF2 extending thereacross.
In the first embodiment shown in
The arrangement of the partially reflecting mirror M is not limited to the aforementioned arrangement. The partially reflecting mirror M may be arranged at an angle θ different from 45°, e.g. in a range θ from 20° to 70°, and the portion of the sample arm SA2 including the third lens system L3 and the components of the second OCT device OCT2 except the sample arm lens SA2, may be arranged at an angle of 2θ with respect to the sample arm SA1.
The third lens system L3 in combination with the common lens system L12 form a second focusing portion B2 having a focal length f2 corresponding substantially to a distance of a rearward half portion of the object 10 from the common lens system L12, and the depth of focus DOF2 of the second focusing portion FP2 extends substantially throughout the second partial volume 19.
The first OCT device OCT1 is a spectral-domain OCT device, e.g. of the configuration of the SD-OCT 100 shown in
The second OCT system OCT2 is a time-domain OCT system, e.g. of the configuration of the TD-OCT 150 shown in
The first resp. second OCT device OCT1 resp. OCT2 has a first resp. second light source (not shown) that generate first resp. second radiation comprising respective spectra having wavelengths in a first resp. second wavelength range defined by a first resp. second operating wavelength λ1 resp. λ2 and a first bandwidth Δλ1 resp. Δλ2 as illustrated in
When the first OCT device OCT1 is to be adapted to measure the CAS 22, 24 of a human eye 20 as shown in
When the second OCT device OCT2 is to be adapted to measure the total length of a human eye 20 as shown in
A preferred example of the spectral arrangement of the first and second spectral band is shown in
The combination of the third lens system L3 and the common lens system L12 in the sample arm SA2 of the second OCT system OCT2 has a focal length f2 that is relatively long, so as to allow measuring the second partial volume 19 extending across the total axial length of the object 10 and also has a depth of focus DOF2 that is suitably designed to be relatively long so as to extend across the second partial volume 19. On the contrary, the combination of the first lens system L1 and the common lens system L12 in the first sample arm SA1 of the first OCT device OCT1 has a relatively short focal length f1 and a relatively short depth of focus DOF1, respectively, located in and extending only through the first partial volume 17 located at or near the front surface 16 of the object 10.
In the combined system OCT12′, the detection arms of the first and the second OCT devices are shared in an integrated detection arm (not shown), and the reference arms of the first and the second OCT devices are integrated to an integrated reference arm (not shown) as implemented e.g. in the third and fourth embodiment shown respectively in
The system OCT12′ of the second embodiment shown in
As illustrated in
The common lens system BFL12 is designed such that the first and second focusing portions FP1, FP2 may be arranged one beside another, e.g. in the form of two half planes. Alternatively, as shown in
As an alternative to embodying the common lens system as a bi-focal common lens system, the common lens system may be embodied as a bi-focal Fresnel lens or a bi-focal diffraction optical element (DOE) having two different focal lengths, e.g. having a design similar to that of a bi-focal intra-ocular lens (IOL).
In a first sub-embodiment, the radiation of the common beam B12, B12′ of radiation comprises a continuous spectrum of radiation, covering both the first and the second wavelength ranges shown in
In a second sub-embodiment, the spectral composition of the common beam B12, B12′ in the sample arm as shown in
In both the first and the second sub-embodiment of the embodiment shown in
When both the first and the second OCT systems are SD-OCT type devices, they can have an integrated sample arm (as shown in
Such configurations can be particularly adapted to measure the CAS section 17 and the total length 19 of a human eye 20 (see
Respective spectral filters can be provided separately in the integrated sample arm SA12 so as to be congruent with the first and second focussing portions FP1, FP2 of the bi-focal common lens system BFL12, or can be applied directly on the first and second focussing portions FP1, FP2 of the bi-focal common lens system BFL12, e.g. by respective suitable spectral filter coatings, notably edge filter coatings, where the edge of a first edge filter applied in the first focussing portion FP1 is designed to be positioned between the first and second wavelength ranges shown in
Firstly, the sample arm SA12 comprising a sample optical fiber SOF12, the first length system L1 and the bi-focal common lens system BFL12 is configured as in the second embodiment shown in
Fourthly, the reference arm is integrated by at least partially superimposing spatially a first and a second reference arm RA1 and RA2 corresponding, respectively, to the first and second sample arms SA1 and SA2. The first reference arm RA1 comprises a common beam splitter BS12, a first reference arm lens LR1 and a first reference arm mirror MR1 arranged stationary and at a position (distance) with respect to the common beam splitter BS12 so that the optical path length for the radiation RAD1 in the first reference arm RA1 corresponds to the optical path length of the radiation in the first beam B1 focused into the first partial volume 17. The second reference arm RA2 comprises said common beam splitter BS12, a second reference arm partially reflecting mirror MRA, a second reference arm lens system LR2 and a second reference arm mirror MR2, wherein the mirror MRA is arranged in the optical path of the first reference arm RA1 between the common beam splitter BS12 and the first reference arm lens system LR1 and is adapted to partially reflect (deflect) radiation RAD2 comprising wavelengths in the second wavelength range (as defined by λ2 and Δλ2, see
In order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and/or to improve the interference signal of the first beam B1 returning from the refractive index interfaces in the first partial volume 17, an additional third reference arm mirror MR3, see
In the embodiment shown in
In
In the second, third and fourth embodiments of the integrated systems OCT12′, OCT12″ and OCT12′″ shown in
Furthermore, a distortion correction for the chromatic aberration can be provided in the reference arms RA12 of these integrated systems in order to approximate the chromatic distortion of the first and second beams B1 and B2 in the first and second partial volume 17 and 19 of the object 10 and to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the integrated system.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2011/000711 | 2/15/2011 | WO | 00 | 8/12/2013 |