Resolution dependence on phase extraction by the Hilbert transform in phase calibrated and dispersion compensated ultrahigh resolution spectrometer-based OCT

Ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography (UHR-OCT) is enabled by using a broad band source. Simultaneously, this makes the OCT image more sensitive to dispersion mismatch in the interferometer. In spectral domain OCT, dispersion left uncompensated in the interferometer and detector non-linearities lead together to an unknown chirp of the detected interferogram. One method to compensate for the chirp is to perform a pixel-wavenumber calibration versus phase that requires numerical extraction of the phase. Typically a Hilbert transform algorithm is employed to extract the optical phase versus wavenumber for calibration and dispersion compensation. In this work we demonstrate UHR-OCT at 1300 nm using a Super continuum source and highlight the resolution constraints in using the Hilbert transform algorithm when extracting the optical phase for calibration and dispersion compensation. We demonstrate that the constraints cannot be explained purely by the numerical errors in the data processing module utilizing the Hilbert transform but must be dictated by broadening mechanisms originating from the experimentally obtained interferograms.