Non-Scanning Optical Coherence Tomography Using Off-Axis Interferometry with an Angular-Dispersion Imaging Scheme

We present a non-scanning approach for real-time optical coherence tomography (OCT). Our approach is based on an off-axis interferometer that laterally projects the time-of-flight or depth information of the sample onto an image sensor. To facilitate the use of an off-axis interferometer in OCT, an angular-dispersion imaging method has been developed. Theoretical analysis and experimental results are presented to demonstrate that this method is capable of demodulating the interferogram and thus permits a direct inspection of the depth-resolved image. Depth resolution and detection range of the present method are also studied.