Swept-Source OCT Platform Targets Enhanced Ophthalmic Imaging

OCTLIGHT ApS— a spinoff company from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) — has completed the product development phase of a new swept-source technology platform that could enhance ophthalmic OCT capabilities, particularly for retinal imaging and biometry.

VCSEL swept-source technology can potentially allow longer imaging ranges and faster wavelength sweep speeds in OCT when compared to conventional external cavity sources.

OCTLIGHT has successfully demonstrated a tuning range >50 nm in the 1000 to 1100 nm wavelength region of interest for ophthalmic swept-source OCT. The project has also shown how this tuning range can be increased to 100 nm using established VCSEL high-gain material and broad-bandwidth mirrors, according to the company.

The OCTLIGHT source employs MEMS to provide its tuning capability. Advances in MEMS technology have played a significant role in VCSEL development in recent years, and in bringing about the improved scan rates and imaging depths that the sources can provide in biophotonics applications.

OCTLIGHT intends to focus initially on retinal imaging, where the ability to scan at faster rates over a wider field of view is attractive for OCT angiography, gathering information about blood flow in the retinal tissues. Another target application will be optical biometry, the accurate measurement of an eye's dimensions and anatomical characteristics prior to cataract surgery, carried out via a swept-source laser and interferometry.