Measurement of optic axis orientation with single-mode fiber-based polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

An algorithm is presented that can be used to obtain accurate optic axis orientation of birefringent tissue samples. A single-mode fiber (SMF)-based polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography with a single linearly polarized incident light was used in the measurements in which the light reflected from the sample and detected by the spectrometer is linearly polarized light at 45 deg with respect to the experimental horizontal axis. By employing polarization controllers to completely specify the parameters of the fiber system, the absolute optic axis orientation could then be estimated accurately by analyzing the Mueller matrices of the fiber system and sample. The proposed algorithm has been validated in the quantification of the optic axis orientation of a quarter-wave plate. Finally, several birefringent tissue samples were imaged with this SMF-based system. (C) 2020 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).