I-Jen HSU, Chia-Wei SUN, Chih-Wei LU, Chih-Chung YANG^*, Chun-Ping CHIANG¹, Chii-Wann LIN²

Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
¹Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
²Graduate Institute of Bioengineering, National Taiwan University, 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

(Received March 6, 2003; Accepted October 9, 2003)

We proposed two process algorithms for resolution improvement and contrast enhancement in the images of optical coherence tomography (OCT). An OCT system with a non-Gaussian light source spectrum or dispersion mismatch usually results in sidelobes in the interference fringe envelope that may produce artifacts and reduce image contrast. Based on the concept of deconvolution, we proposed two different process algorithms and demonstrated their effectiveness in retrieving sample structures. The effects of the process algorithms were examined by numerical simulations and real OCT scanning images. After processing with the proposed procedures, the effects of sidelobes were tremendously suppressed and the image qualities were improved.

Key words: optical coherence tomography, process algorithm, image resolution, image contrast, deconvolution

^*E-mail address: ccy@cc.ee.ntu.edu.tw