Improved phase modulation for an en-face scanning three-dimensional optical coherence microscope

We have previously described an inexpensive method for modulating the interferometer of an en-face scanning, focus-tracking, three-dimensional optical coherence microscope (OCM). In this OCM design, a reference mirror is mounted on a piezoelectric stack driven at a resonance frequency of about 100 kHz. We perform a partial discrete Fourier transform of the digitally sampled output fringe signal. In the original design, we obtained the amplitude of the backscattered light by summing the powers in the fundamental (1omega) and first harmonic (2omega) of the modulation frequency. We used the particular piezoamplitude that eliminates the effects of interferometer phase drift. However, as the reference mirror was stepped to scan at different sample depths, variations in the back-coupled reference power added noise to the fringe signal at the fundamental piezodriving frequency. We report here a technique to eliminate the effects of this piezowobble by using instead the sum of the 2omega and 3omega powers as a measure of the backscattered light intensity. Images acquired before and after this improvement are presented to illustrate the enhancement to image quality deep within the sample. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.