Optimized Working Distance of a Micro-optic OCT Imaging Probe

We have investigated optimization of the working distance (WD) for a highly miniaturized imaging probe for endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT). The WD is the axial distance from the distal end of the imaging probe to its beam focus, which is demanded for dimensional margins of protective structures, operational safety, or full utilization of the axial imaging range of OCT. With an objective lens smaller than a few hundred micrometers in diameter, a micro-optic imaging probe naturally exhibits a very short WD due to the down-scaled optical structure. For a maximized WD careful design is required with the optical aperture of the objective lens optimally filled by the incident beam. The diffraction-involved effect was taken into account in our analysis of the apertured beam. In this study, we developed a simple design formula on the maximum achievable WD based on our diffraction simulation. It was found that the maximum WD is proportional to the aperture size squared. In experiment, we designed and fabricated very compact OCT probes with long WDs. Our 165-㎛-thick fiber-optic probes provided WDs of 3 mm or longer w ith reasonable OCT imaging performance.