Rollins A M, Izatt J A
Opt Lett. 1999 Nov 1;24(21):1484-6. doi: 10.1364/ol.24.001484.
We introduce a family of power-conserving fiber-optic interferometer designs for low-coherence reflectometry that use optical circulators, unbalanced couplers, and (or) balanced heterodyne detection. Simple design equations for optimization of the signal-to-noise ratio of the interferometers are expressed in terms of relevant signal and noise sources and measurable system parameters. We use the equations to evaluate the expected performance of the new configurations compared with that of the standard Michelson interferometer that is commonly used in optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems. The analysis indicates that improved sensitivity is expected for all the new interferometer designs, compared with the sensitivity of the standard OCT interferometer, under high-speed imaging conditions.
我们介绍了一族用于低相干反射测量的节能光纤干涉仪设计，这些设计使用了光环行器、不平衡耦合器和（或）平衡外差检测。根据相关信号和噪声源以及可测量的系统参数，给出了用于优化干涉仪信噪比的简单设计方程。我们使用这些方程来评估新配置与光学相干断层扫描（OCT）系统中常用的标准迈克尔逊干涉仪相比的预期性能。分析表明，在高速成像条件下，与标准OCT干涉仪的灵敏度相比，所有新干涉仪设计的灵敏度都有望提高。
