Microresonator-frequency-comb-based platform for clinical high-resolution optical coherence tomography

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11859972-B2
Application number	US-202117367884-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2021
Priority date	Aug 2, 2017
Publication date	Jan 2, 2024
Grant date	Jan 2, 2024

Abstract

A method of providing optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging may comprise using an on-chip frequency comb source interfaced with an OCT system by a circulator as an imaging source and reconstructing OCT images from resulting spectral data from target tissue illuminated by the imaging source.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A microresonator frequency comb comprising:
one or more lasers; and
a high-Q resonator comprising silicon nitride, wherein the high-Q resonator is pumped by the one or more lasers to provide a frequency comb source configured as an imaging source for an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system, and wherein the high-Q resonator is tuned to control a resonance of the resonator relative to a frequency of a pump signal of the one or more lasers.

2. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , further comprising integrated micro-heaters configured to provide temperature tuning to control cavity resonance of said resonator.

3. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 2 , wherein a micro-heater comprises platinum.

4. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the one or more lasers comprise a fixed wavelength pump laser.

5. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the one or more lasers comprise one of a distributed feedback (DFB) laser, an external cavity laser, or a Fabry-Perot laser.

6. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 5 , wherein the laser comprises a distributed feedback (DFB) laser and further comprising a second microresonator frequency comb combined with said high-Q resonator on a single chip and pumped by said distributed feedback (DFB) laser.

7. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , further comprising a waveguide configured to couple light from the one or more lasers to the resonator.

8. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 7 , wherein the waveguide comprises silicon nitride.

9. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 7 , wherein the waveguide comprises silica, silicon, aluminum nitride, crystalline fluorides, diamond, or AlGaAs.

10. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the frequency comb source has a bandwidth of 110 nm at 30 dB and a line spacing of 38 GHz.

11. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the resonator exhibits a Q of up to 37 million.

12. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 11 , wherein the resonator exhibits a Q of up to 8 million.

13. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the resonator exhibits a loss of from 3 dB/m to 1 dB/m.

14. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the resonator exhibits a loss of less than 3 dB/m.

15. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the resonator has a line spacing of from about 38 GHz to about 200 GHz.

16. The microresonator frequency comb of claim 1 , wherein the high-Q resonator has a Q value in a range of from 8+10 5 to 3.7×10 7 .

17. An optical coherence tomography system comprising:
a microresonator frequency comb comprising:
one or more lasers; and
a high-Q resonator comprising silicon nitride, wherein said high-Q resonator is pumped by the one or more lasers to provide a frequency comb source configured as an imaging source, and wherein the high-Q resonator is tuned to control a resonance of the resonator relative to a frequency of a pump signal of the one or more lasers; and
a computing device configured to generate images using signals received based on signals produced by the microresonator frequency comb.

18. The optical coherence tomography system of claim 17 , wherein the system has an axial resolution of about 18 μm.

19. The optical coherence tomography system of claim 17 , wherein the system has a sensitivity of 100 dB at an A-line rate of 28 kHz for the frequency comb source.

20. The optical coherence tomography system of claim 17 , further comprising a grating configured to filter out the pump signal before the frequency comb is communicated to the optical coherence tomography system.

Assignees

• Univ Columbia

Inventors

• Lipson Michal
• Ji Xingchen
• Klenner Alexander
• Yao Xinwen
• Gan Yu
• Gaeta Alexander L
• Hendon Christine P

Classifications

• G01B9/02008 Primary

  by using a frequency comb · CPC title

• G01B9/02091

  Tomographic interferometers, e.g. based on optical coherence · CPC title

• A61B3/102

  for optical coherence tomography [OCT] · CPC title

• A61B5/0066

  Optical coherence imaging · CPC title

• G01B9/02044

  Imaging in the frequency domain, e.g. by using a spectrometer · CPC title