ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the design of Optical coherence tomography (OCT) endoscopes and their applications. It begins with the general structure of OCT endoscopes, which includes the optical design, scanning methods, and engineering considerations for extremely small or large lumens. Determining a suitable size for the capsule will keep it in contact with the majority of esophagus epithelium without much folding. Benefiting from the micro-optics design, endoscopic OCT can image small lumens of rodents, such as the gastrointestinal tract, bladder, and colon with micrometer-level image resolution. The schematics of the OCT endoscopes are specifically tailored to meet the requirements imposed by respective applications. OCT is a nondestructive optical sectioning technique that generates three-dimensional image volumes of biological tissues with a microscopic scale resolution at high speed. An OCT endoscope is for delivering, focusing, and scanning the OCT light on a suspicious area, collecting the back-reflected signal, and then transmitting it back to the detector.
