Masato OHMI^* and Masamitsu HARUNA

Course of Allied Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 1-7 Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

(Received February 28, 2003; Accepted April 14, 2003)

The axial resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) is determined by the coherence length of the light source. We demonstrate for the first time high-resolution OCT of biological tissue using a halogen lamp as the light source for a low coherence interferometer. High-resolution OCT imaging with 3.5 μm resolution was performed successfully for onion and porcine skin, although the coherence light power for illumination of a sample is as small as 100 nW.

Key words: optical coherence tomography, high-resolution OCT, halogen lamp, bulk-optic interferometer, fiber-optic interferometer

^*E-mail address: ohmi@sahs.med.osaka-u.ac.jp