UTC Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp., announces the Sensors Unlimited shortwave infrared (SWIR) digital linescan camera for Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT). The high-resolution, indium-gallium-arsenide (InGaAs) SWIR camera will be shown at Photonics West 2013, which takes place on 2-7 February at the Moscone Centre (booth 811) in San Francisco, California (US).
This camera breaks new ground for SD-OCT when used at the centre wavelengths of 1.05 microns (µ), 1.31µ or 1.55µ by delivering A-line rates of more than 76,000 lines per second (lps), which is near the maximum for Base CameraLink interfaces. With 10µ pitch, this development achieves a high optical and spectral resolution. This pitch also enables ophthalmic OCT instrumentation companies to easily adapt their current 0.84µ SD-OCT spectrometers, which use the same pitch. The pixel height, or imaging aperture, is 210µ, providing easier alignment for fibre-optic based spectrometers, and high-sensitivity for machine vision applications. A square pixel version is planned for the future.
The new SWIR camera, model GL2048L-10A, shrinks the depth needed behind the optical path, as its total thickness is 0.64 inches (16.3 millimetres, mm); this enables easy integration into spectrometers and lens-based imaging systems. Suitable for high-line rate applications, the camera also supports rates down to 100 lps for inspection applications that need up to 10-millisecond (ms) integration times. Multiple pixel gain settings enable the user to trade off between the highest sensitivity and the best dynamic range, as their particular application may need. User commands include: digital scaling, exposure, line-rate and the ability to create non-uniform corrections, as needed. External triggering and exposure control are also possible, via the CameraLink cable.
The photo on the left shows the model GL2048L-10A SWIR camera. The photo on the upper right shows the whole front of an eye in 3D, captured in vivo with the new camera at 1310 nanometres (nm), imaging 8mm from the eyelid to the lens below the iris, with a resolution of 1.3µ. The photo on the lower right shows the retina, acquired at 1.05µ and demonstrating 6mm depth range with 11µ resolution. (Images and use of the Telesto SD-OCT system are courtesy of ThorLabs GmbH.)
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