TechConnect Innovator Spotlight:
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Integrated Photonic Devices for ultrahigh-speed, space-division multiplexing optical coherence tomography, Lehigh University
TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY
Label-free and non-destructive imaging technologies with micron-scale resolutions and hundreds of frames per second imaging speed are greatly desirable for biomedical applications.
Primary Application Area: Medical Devices
Technology Development Status: Ready to Market
TECHNOLOGY DETAILS:
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging biomedical imaging technology that enables micronâ€'scale, crossâ€'sectional, and three-dimensional (3D) imaging of biological tissues non-invasively. OCT functions as a type of “optical biopsy,†imaging tissue microstructure with resolutions approaching that of standard histopathology by microscopy, but without the need to remove and process tissue specimens. OCT is analogous to ultrasound imaging, except that light instead of sound is used in OCT to provide 10â€"100 times better resolution compared to ultrasound. To date, OCT has been used in a wide range of clinical applications in humans, including ophthalmology, cardiology, endoscopy, oncology, dermatology, and dentistry. Our group developed a space-division multiplexing OCT (SDM-OCT) technology that achieved over 20-fold speed improvement compared to current state-of-the-art commercial OCT systems. The key of the SDM-OCT technology is to create multiple imaging beams to illuminate the sample simultaneously, while having different optical delays for each beam. Since each optical beam was optically delayed, signal from different sample locations was presented at different frequency range, enabling parallel OCT imaging in order to achieve significant improvement in imaging speed.
FIGURES OF MERIT:
Value Proposition: For manufacturers of OCT devices who want to offer their customers market-driving capabilities like noninvasive OCT imaging, SDM-OCT is a high-value technological innovation easily integrated into current OCT systems. Unlike other OCT speed and imaging improvement methods and technologies, the patented SDM-OCT technology (US patent 9,400,169 B2, WO 2014/088650 A1) offers unparalleled OCT imaging, easily integrated at a negligible cost. Early detection, categorization, classification, and staging of eye disease, with accurate following of conditions, is known to reduce or halt the progression of disease and reduce the incidence of vision loss/blindness. With an aging population and the increased incidence of chronic eye diseases (e.g. diabetic retinopathy), there will be tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions world-wide that will require consistent and accurate monitoring for disease progression. Unfortunately, existing OCT systems cannot provide accurate wide-field diagnosis of retinal disease and the current practice of 2D scans taken months apart makes for difficult comparison. This makes tracking disease progression and response to treatment challenging. SDM-OCT technology would provide high-density 3D scans that support better image registration and alignment, thereby providing disease progression data following treatment superior to that currently possible.
SHOWCASE SUMMARY
Organization Type: Academic/Gov Lab
GOVT/EXTERNAL FUNDING SOURCES
Vetted Programs/Awards: Your Tech has been Acknowledge Winner (2014) and finalist (2013), the QED POC Program, University City Science Center, Philadelphia PA
SBIR/STTR Awards: NSF STTR proposal (#1721491) currently under review.