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Abstract

A method and system for instantaneous time domain optical coherence tomography (iTD-OCT) provides instantaneous optical depth profiles in an axial direction to a sample having scattering properties or that is at least partially reflective. An iTD-OCT instrument includes a spectroscopic detector having an internal optical axis and an array of detector pixels. A reference beam having a fixed optical path length is superpositioned along the optical axis with a measurement beam that includes back-scattered photons from the sample. The detector pixels capture a time domain interference pattern arising within the spectroscopic detector due to optical path length differences between photons from the reference beam and photons from the measurement beam. The iTD-OCT instrument may be implemented as a robust solid-state device with no moving parts.

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First Claim