When was Optical Coherence Tomography first introduced?

When was Optical Coherence Tomography first introduced?

• A. 1991
• B. 1985
• C. 1999
• D. 2005

Answer: (A)

OCT was first introduced in 1991. The idea behind OCT is to use low-coherence interferometry to obtain depth-resolved, cross-sectional images of tissue with micrometer-scale resolution. In the initial demonstration, researchers used a broadband light source and a Michelson interferometer to coherently gate light from different depths in tissue, building up A-scans that could be combined into B-scans of the retina. That 1991 breakthrough showed that living human retina could be imaged with much higher resolution than previous methods, kicking off the field of OCT in ophthalmology. The later years brought faster and more advanced variants, but 1991 marks the launch of the technology itself. Hence, the date 1991 is the best answer.

OCT was first introduced in 1991. The idea behind OCT is to use low-coherence interferometry to obtain depth-resolved, cross-sectional images of tissue with micrometer-scale resolution. In the initial demonstration, researchers used a broadband light source and a Michelson interferometer to coherently gate light from different depths in tissue, building up A-scans that could be combined into B-scans of the retina. That 1991 breakthrough showed that living human retina could be imaged with much higher resolution than previous methods, kicking off the field of OCT in ophthalmology. The later years brought faster and more advanced variants, but 1991 marks the launch of the technology itself. Hence, the date 1991 is the best answer.