Nonmechanical spectral domain optical coherence tomography using an electrowetting beam-scanner

In this work, we demonstrate the first use of an electrowetting beam-steering prism to perform lateral scanning in a benchtop spectral domain optical coherence tomography system. Electrowetting-based optics are compact, consume very little power, and have entirely nonmechanical actuation, making them ideal for small-scale applications like endoscopic OCT. Our electrowetting prism is capable of scanning at ±6° with an applied voltage of 67 V ±20~V. These capabilities are used to perform lateral scanning in a benchtop spectral domain optical coherence tomography system utilizing a 1091 nm, 53 nm bandwidth gain-managed nonlinear fiber amplifier source. We characterize the field of view, axial resolution, and sensitivity of our system and find that our electrowetting prism allows us to acquire OCT images without sacrificing system performance.