What is Superluminescent Diode for Optical Coherence Tomography?

 Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a novel clinical technology that is widely used in ophthalmology and other medical fields. The technology provides two and three dimensional, cross-sectional, micron-scale images of biological tissues within optical scattering media.

This technology has been used extensively for imaging tissue microstructure in various medical fields ranging from ophthalmology to gastroenterology. OCT primarily used two types of light sources for the imaging process- a) Femtosecond Lasers or b) Superluminescent Diodes (SLD).

However, the high prices and difficult operation of Femtosecond lasers have throttled its widespread adoption in medical applications. At the same time, it has ultimately paved the way for superluminescent diodes for optical coherence tomography in the clinical industry.

Let us first understand what superluminescent diode is and what OCT is in brief.

Superluminescent Diode for optical coherence tomography

What Superluminescent Diode is?

Wikipedia defined the superluminescent diode as “A superluminescent diode is an edge-emitting semiconductor light source based on superluminescence.” In simple words, SLD is a semiconductor device that emits low-coherence light but with high brightness. These diodes are ideal for various clinical applications, including Optic Gyroscopes (FOG) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).

Superluminescent diodes for optical coherence tomography are compact, robust, and easy to operate. Moreover, they are very economical in rates compared to Femtosecond solid-state lasers. The recent research and development in the field of SLD will significantly enhance the clinical applications of UHR-OCT (Ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography) imaging.

What is Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)?

As mentioned above, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a new-age clinical technology that is widely used in ophthalmology among other medical fields. It is used to evaluate and treat the disorders associated with the optic nerve.

Check our blog What Superluminescent Diode for optical coherence tomography is? to see Principle & Applications of Superluminescent Diodes (SLDs).

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