Tiny endoscopic optical coherence tomography probe driven by a miniaturized hollow ultrasonic motor

• Published in: Journal of biomedical optics Vol. 18; no. 8; p. 086011
• Main Authors: Chen, Tianyuan, Zhang, Ning, Huo, Tiancheng, Wang, Chengming, Zheng, Jing-gao, Zhou, Tieying, Xue, Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers 01.08.2013
• Subjects: Customizing; Endoscopes; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; High-Energy Shock Waves; Image Enhancement - instrumentation; Lenses; Lighting - instrumentation; Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems - instrumentation; Miniaturization; Motion; Motors; Optical Coherence Tomography; Optical fibers; Phantoms, Imaging; Reproducibility of Results; Scanning; Semiconductors; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectra; Tomography, Optical Coherence - instrumentation; Transducers; optical coherence tomography; hollow ultrasonic motor; endoscopic probe
• ISSN: 1083-3668; 1560-2281
• DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.18.8.086011

We present an endoscopic probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT) equipped with a miniaturized hollow ultrasonic motor that rotates the objective lens and provides an internal channel for the fiber to pass through, enabling 360 deg unobstructed circumferential scanning. This probe has an outer diameter of 1.5 mm, which is ultra-small for motorized probes with an unobstructed view in distal scanning endoscopic OCT. Instead of a mirror or prism, a customized aspheric right-angle lens is utilized, leading to an enlargement of the numerical aperture and thus high transverse resolution. Spectral-domain OCT imaging of bio-tissue and a phantom are demonstrated with resolution of 7.5  μm(axial)×6.6  μm(lateral) and sensitivity of 96 dB.