Next Generation Components and Systems for Biomedical Imaging

光学相干层析成像(OCT)是一种新型的光学生物成像工具，它在眼科领域根深蒂固，并在癌症检测、创伤监测、心血管医学和组织工程等领域迅速崛起。OCT的性能在很大程度上取决于光源的性能，而这项技术在更广泛的医疗领域的渗透正被当前一代光源推迟。我们的合作伙伴关系将一支在整个OCT开发链中拥有成熟专业知识的多学科团队聚集在一起，从光子设备技术专家到生物医学光学研究人员、商业OCT系统制造商和临床最终用户，共同制定一个协调计划，以解决这一瓶颈。我们的目标是开发新一代光源，它不仅将实现性价比的突破，还将实现更大的系统小型化和坚固性。新光源将在一个活跃的OCT研究实验室进行评估，并由我们的商业合作伙伴提供评估。下一代OCT成像系统将通过开发光学元件和激光系统来实现，这些系统将在输出功率、发射带宽、线宽的可调性、扫描速度等因素方面重新定义最先进的技术，并结合设计特点来简化OCT系统并降低成本。这项研究从新的外延技术的开发、半导体材料的改性、器件设计和制造技术、扫描激光系统的开发，以及它们在研究真实生物样品的OCT系统中的评估和实施等方面进行垂直整合。

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new optical bio-imaging tool which is firmly established in ophthalmology and rapidly emerging in areas such as cancer detection, wound monitoring, cardiovascular medicine and tissue engineering. The performance of OCT depends critically on the performance of the light source and the technique's penetration into the wider medical arena is being delayed by the current generation of sources. Our partnership brings together a multidisciplinary team with demonstrated expertise in the entire OCT development chain from photonic device technologists, through biomedical optics researchers, commercial OCT systems manufacturers and clinical end-users into a co-ordinated programme to address this bottleneck. We aim to develop a new generation of light sources which will achieve not only a price/performance breakthrough but also enable much greater system miniaturisation and ruggedness. The new light sources will be evaluated in an active OCT research laboratory and also offered for evaluation by our commercial partners. Next generation OCT imaging systems will be realised by developing optical components and laser systems which will redefine the state-of-the-art with regard to factors such as output power, emission band-width, tuneability of linewidth, sweep speed, and incorporate design features to simplify the OCT system and reduce cost. The research is vertically integrated from the development of new epitaxial techniques, modification of semiconductor materials, device design and fabrication technologies, development of swept laser systems, and their assessment and implementation in OCT systems studying real biological samples.