Tae Joong Eom

All-optical AND and NAND gates based on cascaded second-order nonlinear processes in a Ti-diffused periodically poled LiNbO(3) waveguide.

All-optical AND and NAND gates have been demonstrated in a Ti-diffused periodically poled LiNbO(3) channel waveguide which has two second-harmonic phase-matching peaks by cascaded sum-frequency-generation/difference-frequency-generation (cSFG/DFG) and sum-frequency-generation (SFG) processes. The conversion efficiency of signal to idler (AND gate signal) was approximately 0 dB in cSFG/DFG process. In the second SFG process, more than 15 dB extinction ratio between signal and dropped signal (NAND gate signal) has been observed.

In Vivo 3D Meibography of the Human Eyelid Using Real Time Imaging Fourier-Domain OCT

Recently, we reported obtaining tomograms of meibomian glands from healthy volunteers using commercial anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT), which is widely employed in clinics for examination of the anterior segment. However, we could not create 3D images of the meibomian glands, because the commercial OCT does not have a 3D reconstruction function. In this study we report the creation of 3D images of the meibomian glands by reconstructing the tomograms of these glands using high speed Fourier-Domain OCT (FD-OCT) developed in our laboratory. This research was jointly undertaken at the Department of Ophthalmology, Seoul St. Marys Hospital (Seoul, Korea) and the Advanced Photonics Research Institute of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Gwangju, Korea) with two healthy volunteers and seven patients with meibomian gland dysfunction. A real time imaging FD-OCT system based on a high-speed wavelength swept laser was developed that had a spectral bandwidth of 100 nm at the 1310 nm center wavelength. The axial resolution was 5 µm and the lateral resolution was 13 µm in air. Using this device, the meibomian glands of nine subjects were examined. A series of tomograms from the upper eyelid measuring 5 mm (from left to right, B-scan) × 2 mm (from upper part to lower part, C-scan) were collected. Three-D images of the meibomian glands were then reconstructed using 3D “data visualization, analysis, and modeling software”. Established infrared meibography was also performed for comparison. The 3D images of healthy subjects clearly showed the meibomian glands, which looked similar to bunches of grapes. These results were consistent with previous infrared meibography results. The meibomian glands were parallel to each other, and the saccular acini were clearly visible. Here we report the successful production of 3D images of human meibomian glands by reconstructing tomograms of these glands with high speed FD-OCT.

Linearly Wavenumber-Swept Active Mode Locking Short-Cavity Fiber Laser for In-Vivo OCT Imaging

We demonstrate a highly linearly wavenumber-swept active mode locking (AML) fiber laser in the 1.3 μm region for in-vivo imaging in optical coherence tomography (OCT) without wavenumber space resampling. In this all-electric AML wavenumber-swept mechanism, the conventional wavelength selection filter is eliminated, and instead a suitable programmed electric modulation signal is applied directly to the gain medium. For a high sweep rate (up to 1 MHz) along the wavenumber, the fiber cavity structure is made as short as possible (0.88 m in air). A 15 ps/nm chirped fiber Bragg grating and a circulator are used for a shorter ring cavity configuration. A linewidth of 0.1 nm and tuning range of 42 nm are obtained under the mode-locking condition. Various types of wavenumber (or wavelength) tunings can be implemented because of the filterless cavity configuration. Therefore, we successfully demonstrate a linearly wavenumber-swept AML fiber laser with 26.5 mW of output power for obtaining in-vivo OCT images at a sweep rate of 100 kHz.

Tomographic imaging of a suspending single live cell using optical tweezer-combined full-field optical coherence tomography

We propose a label-free depth-resolved tomographic scheme for imaging a single live cell in fluid. This approach utilizes a modified time-domain full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) system combined with an optical tweezer technique. The optical trap for holding a moving specimen is made by tightly focusing a 1064 nm Q-switching pulsed laser beam with a 1.0 NA microscope objective in the sample arm of the FF-OCT part. By cosharing the probe for both systems, the optical actions of trapping and cellular resolution tomographic imaging could be achieved simultaneously. Feasibility of the combined system is demonstrated by imaging micron-sized polystyrene beads and a living suspension cell in medium.

Tunable Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser based on digital micro-mirror array

We propose and demonstrate a tunable Q-switched erbium doped fiber laser with a digitally controlled micro-mirror array device. The tunable and pulsed output of the laser was achieved by the pixelated spatial modulation of the micro-mirror array. The wavelength tuning from 1530 nm to 1555 nm was shown with wavelength selectivity of ~0.1 nm and the pulsed operation was accomplished with 130 Hz repetition rate.

Spectrally-sampled OCT for sensitivity improvement from limited optical power

Although high optical illumination power is favored in optical coherence tomography (OCT) for better signal-to-noise ratio, optical power is often limited by a damaged threshold for biomedical living tissues and autocorrelation signals observed in tomograms. In order to improve signal sensitivity without increasing the optical illumination power, a spectrally sampled multi-wavelength light source is proposed for the OCT system. A fiber Sagnac comb filter was used to spectrally sample the output of a continuous spectral light source. Point spread function analysis shows that the spectrally sampled OCT has an almost 50% dynamic range improvement in comparison with a conventional continuous spectral light source OCT for the same average optical power of 6 mW.

Realization of true-time-delay using cascaded long-period fiber gratings: theory and applications to the optical pulse multiplication and temporal encoder/decoder

This paper proposes and demonstrates a technique for repetition-rate multiplication of an optical pulse train having an arbitrary period or pattern and the optical temporal encoding/decoding for the optical-code-division multiple-access (O-CDMA) system. The technique exploits the difference in the propagation speeds between the core and copropagating cladding modes of a fiber to obtain true-time-delay between the modes traveling in the core mode and the cladding mode, which can be used to achieve pulse multiplication. For the coupling to the cladding mode, long-period fiber gratings (LPGs) were used. A series of cascaded LPGs imprinted in a fiber with a specific separation has been employed to obtain a specific rate of pulse multiplication with a single input pulse. Second, by controlling the separations among the gratings, the temporal encoder/decoder for O-CDMA could be implemented. The principle and the applications of the proposed device are investigated in detail. The effect of the birefringence of fiber and fiber gratings on the system performance in the time and spectral domains is presented. The sensitivity of the cladding modes in a conventional fiber to the perturbations at the cladding has been overcome by replacing the conventional fiber with inner-cladding fiber. The properties and the benefits of using the inner-cladding mode are investigated.

Calibration and characterization protocol for spectral-domain optical coherence tomography using fiber Bragg gratings

We present a calibration protocol to obtain the alignment factors of a custom-made spectrometer and the nonlinear fitting function between the measured CCD pixel domain and the wavelength domain to apply to the spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) using fiber Bragg gratings. We have used five gratings with different center wavelengths covering the broadband source spectral range. All have a narrow spectral bandwidth (0.05 nm) and the same reflectivity (92%) to calibrate and align the custom-made spectrometer. The implemented SD-OCT system following the proposed protocol showed the alignment factors as 44.37 deg incident angle, 53.11 deg diffraction angle, and 70.0-mm focal length. The spectral resolution of 0.187 nm was recalculated from the alignment factors.

Linearized Wavelength Interrogation System of Fiber Bragg Grating Strain Sensor Based on Wavelength-Swept Active Mode Locking Fiber Laser

We demonstrated a linearized wavelength interrogation system of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors, based on a wavelength-swept active mode locking (AML) fiber laser. Since the wavelength sweeping mechanism of the AML fiber laser does not depend on the wavelength selecting filter, we can easily demonstrate the wavelength-linear sweeping by applying a programmable electrical signal to the laser cavity. Both static and dynamic strain measurements of FBG sensors were characterized with high linearity, which has an R-square value of 0.9999 at a sweep rate of 50 kHz.

Three-dimensional volumetric human meibomian gland investigation using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Abstract. In this study, polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) capable of providing polarization contrasts such as phase retardation and degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU) was used for visualizing human meibomian glands (MGs) and investigating morphological characteristics of them. Especially, with the help of the DOPU contrast, MGs were exclusively extracted from the volumetric OCT image. In vivo PS-OCT measurements were performed on the upper eyelids of different age groups. From these measurements, different age-dependent aspects of the MG structure were also observed. Based on these observations, it can be inferred that the PS-OCT system has the potential for clinical diagnosis and investigation of MG-related dry eye diseases like MG dysfunction (MGD) and acinar atrophy.