Two-dimensional optical coherence tomography using spectral domain interferometry

A novel low-coherence interferometry method for obtaining tomographic images without any beam scans according to optical path length is described. An interference pattern is spectrally dispersed and a series of single-frequency one-dimensional holograms is simultaneously recorded by a CCD camera. Subsequent numerical fringe analysis can recover a two-dimensional coherence-gated image. Since the two-dimensional information can be instantaneously obtained with this method, temporally continuing coherence-gated images are obtainable for moving objects.