[Optical coherence tomography by evaluation of the spectral modulation of white light interferometry]

Amplitude and phase factor of a wave scattered from an object relative to the amplitude and phase factor of the incident wave reveals the spatial distribution of the object's scattering power by means of Fourier transform. In this paper this relation is discussed and the dependence of the spatial resolution and the maximal range of depth on the physical parameters as well as the influence of dispersion are investigated. The signal-to-noise ratio yields a measure on the sensitivity of the method which is put into relation of the sensitivity of Time-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (TD-OCT). A white light interferometer is discussed. The spectrum of the interference between the wave scattered at an object and the reference wave is observed and yields the spectral distribution of the relative amplitude and phase factor.