Integrated optical sensor in glass for optical coherence tomography (OCT)

The in vivo examination of tissue structures (e.g., human skin, eye retina) by optical coherence tomography is a powerful tool for pharmaceutical and medical research for the development of new drugs and new diagnostic methods. The parallel integration of eight Michelson interferometers including all reference light paths in one small glass chip is the basis of a compact sensor system with a high resolution, short measurement time, and a large penetration depth especially in almost opaque tissue such as the human skin. The interferometer array is fabricated with silver ion exchanged waveguides.