VCSEL technology for ultrahigh speed OCT retinal and anterior eye imaging

描述(申请人提供)：该计划的最终目标是实现基于新型MEMS可调谐垂直腔面发射激光器(MEMS-VCSEL)扫描光源的新一代高性能、低成本的眼科光学相干层析成像OCT技术。这将通过开发、验证和商业化用于扫描源OCT(SS-OCT)的VCSEL技术来实现，扫描源OCT的波长为850 nm和1050 nm，用于眼部成像。这项工作建立在强大的初步数据的基础上，使用由Praevium Research和麻省理工学院(MIT)的合作者获得的1310 nm和1050 nm的OCT光泵浦VCSELs。这项先前的工作已经证明了用于SS-OCT成像的VCSEL的许多性能优势。VCSEL的独特功能使基本轴向扫描速率高达1 MHz，比当前商用光谱域OCT(SD-OCT)眼科系统快20-40倍，扫描速度可调，实现高速和长成像范围操作，成像范围是商用SD-OCT眼科系统的10倍。这些优势保证了一种经济高效的多模式OCT仪器，能够进行视网膜、前眼和轴向眼长成像。这一新一代眼科技术将使广域3D-OCT视网膜成像用于评估视网膜病理，成像前眼用于改进屈光度测量，以及轴向眼长成像用于改进人工晶状体(IOL)植入评估。VCSELs的独特性能特征也将促进功能成像，如多普勒和偏振敏感OCT(PS-OCT)。拟议的计划将建立在Praevium Research的光泵浦、放大的1310 nm VCSELs的结果基础上，该VCSELs之前由NIH资助用于OCT癌症成像的VCSELs，以开发用于眼科成像的新型电泵浦、高功率VCSELs。眼科OCT和成熟的砷化镓材料对功率的要求较低，使这些进展成为可能。纯电泵浦的VCSEL技术将是首个用于SS-OCT的单片级激光光源，显著降低了激光光源和OCT系统的成本。这反过来将使眼科OCT能够渗透到新的市场和临床环境中。这些广泛的目标将通过解决激光开发、OCT系统开发和临床系统验证来实现。通过结合先进的设计和处理方法，VCSEL的性能将得到提高，每一代VCSEL都将集成到与视网膜、全眼和前眼的合作者正在进行的临床研究中 成像。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate goal of this program is to enable a new generation of high performance, low cost ophthalmic Optical Coherence Tomography OCT technology based on new MEMS-tunable vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (MEMS-VCSEL) swept light sources. This will be accomplished by developing, validating, and commercializing VCSEL technology for swept source OCT (SS-OCT) at 850nm and 1050nm wavelengths used for ophthalmic imaging. This work builds upon strong preliminary data using optically pumped VCSELs for OCT at both 1310nm and 1050nm obtained by Praevium Research and collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This prior work has demonstrated numerous performance advantages of VCSELs for SS-OCT imaging. The unique features of VCSELs enable fundamental axial scan rates up to 1MHz, 20-40x faster than current commercial spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) ophthalmic systems, adjustable sweep rates enabling high speed and long imaging range operating regimes, with imaging ranges >10x more than commercial SD-OCT ophthalmic systems. These advantages promise to enable a cost-effective, multi-modal OCT instrument capable of retinal, anterior eye and axial eye length imaging. This new generation of ophthalmic technology will enable wide field 3D-OCT retinal imaging for assessing retinal pathology, imaging the anterior eye for improved refractive power measurement, and axial eye length imaging for improved intraocular lens (IOL) implant assessment. The unique performance features of VCSELs will also facilitate functional imaging such as Doppler and polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT). The proposed program will build upon results from optically pumped, amplified 1310nm VCSELs from Praevium Research under a previous NIH-funded effort on VCSELs for OCT cancer imaging, to develop new electrically pumped, high power VCSELs at 850nm and 1050nm for ophthalmic imaging. These advances are made feasible by lower power requirements for ophthalmic OCT and mature Gallium Arsenide materials. A pure electrically pumped VCSEL technology would represent the first monolithic wafer-scale laser source for SS-OCT, significantly reducing the cost of laser sources and OCT systems. This would in turn enable penetration of ophthalmic OCT into new markets and clinical settings. These broad goals will be realized by addressing laser development, OCT system development, and clinical system validation. VCSEL performance will be increased by incorporating advanced designs and processing methods, with each generation of VCSELs integrated into ongoing clinical studies with collaborators in retinal, whole eye, and anterior eye imaging.