Visualization of Hair Follicles Using High-Speed Optical
Coherence Tomography Based on a Fourier Domain Mode
Locking Laser¹

M.-T. Tsai^{a, b, c,} * and F.-Y. Chang^a

^a Department of Electrical Engineering, Chang Gung University,
259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 33302 Taiwan

^b Graduate Institute of Medical Mechatronics, Chang Gung University,
259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 33302 Taiwan

^c Biomedical Engineering Research Center, Chang Gung University,
259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 33302 Taiwan

*e-mail: mttsai@mail.cgu.edu.tw

Received October 12, 2011; in final form, October 28, 2011; published online March 6, 2012

Abstract—In this study, a swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system with a Fourier
domain mode locking (FDML) laser is proposed for a dermatology study. The homemade FDML laser is one
kind of frequency-sweeping light source, which can provide output power of >20 mW and an output spectrum
of 65 nm in bandwidth centered at 1300 nm, enabling imaging with an axial resolution of 12 m in the OCT
system. To eliminate the forward scans from the laser output and insert the delayed backward scans, a Mach–
Zehnder configuration is implemented. Compared with conventional frequency-sweeping light sources, the
FDML laser can achieve much higher scan rates, as high as ~240 kHz, which can provide a three-dimensional
imaging rate of 4 volumes/s. Furthermore, the proposed high-speed SS-OCT system can provide three-dimen-
sional (3D) images with reduced motion artifacts. Finally, a high-speed SS-OCT system is used to visualize hair
follicles, demonstrating the potential of this technology as a tool for noninvasive diagnosis of alopecia.

10.1134/S1054660X1204024X

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