Lensed fiber probes designed as an alternative to bulk probes in optical coherence tomography

We demonstrate a compact all-fiber sampling probe for an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. By forming a focusing lens directly on the tip of an optical fiber, a compact sampling probe could be implemented. To simultaneously achieve a sufficiently long working distance and a good lateral resolution, we employed a large-mode area photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and a coreless silica fiber (CSF) of the same diameters. A working distance of up to 1270 microm, a 3 dB distance range of 2210 microm, and a transverse resolution of 14.2 microm were achieved with the implemented PCF lensed fiber; these values are comparable to those obtainable with a conventional objective lens having an NA of 0.25 (10 x). The performance of the OCT system equipped with the proposed PCF lensed fiber is presented by showing the OCT images of a rat finger as a biological sample and a pearl as an in-depth sample.