Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography using self-phase modulation in fiber for broadband source generation

Summary form only given. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been widely studied for high-resolution subsurface tissue scanning. Since the longitudinal resolution in OCT scanning is inversely proportional to the light source bandwidth, pursuing means for generating a broadband light source, either coherent or incoherent, is crucial for OCT development. In this paper, we report the use of self-phase modulation in a single-mode fiber to generate a broadband source for a polarization OCT system (de Boer et al, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. vol. 5, pp. 1200-1204, 1999). Due to the Kerr effect in fibers, self-phase modulation of a short pulse can induce a nonlinear phase distribution, which is equivalent to the generation of chirp or spectrum broadening.