Power-efficient Fourier domain optical coherence tomography setup for selection in the optical path difference sign using Talbot bands

A power-efficient Fourier domain optical coherence tomography fiber system is presented free of mirror terms. The object and reference beams from the interferometer are spatially separated to illuminate different parts of the diffraction grating in the spectrometer according to a method inspired from the use of Talbot bands. In this way, the system is made sensitive to only one sign of the optical path difference in the interferometer.