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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Simultaneous Brightfield, Fluorescence, and Optical Coherence Tomographic Imaging of Contracting Cardiac Trabeculae Ex Vivo
Published on: October 2, 2021
Unbalanced versus balanced operation in an optical coherence tomography system
1Applied Optics Group, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, United Kingdom. a.g.h.podoleanu@ukc.ac.uk
Abstract:
The choice of a balanced optical coherence tomography (OCT) configuration versus an unbalanced OCT configuration with optimized reference-arm attenuation is discussed. The choice depends on the receiver noise, the fiber-end reflection R, and the power to the object. When OCT is used to investigate biological tissue an equivalent R? can be evaluated as the compound reflected light from tissue. In this case an additional parameter has to be considered: the confocal optical sectioning interval of the OCT system.
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