The ultimate goal of this program is to enable a new generation of high performance, low cost ophthalmic Optical Coherence Tomography OCT technology based on new MEMS-tunable vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (MEMS-VCSEL) swept light sources. This will be accomplished by developing, validating, and commercializing VCSEL technology for swept source OCT (SS-OCT) at 850nm and 1050nm wavelengths used for ophthalmic imaging. This work builds upon strong preliminary data using optically pumped VCSELs for OCT at both 1310nm and 1050nm obtained by Praevium Research and collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This prior work has demonstrated numerous performance advantages of VCSELs for SS-OCT imaging. The unique features of VCSELs enable fundamental axial scan rates up to 1MHz, 20-40x faster than current commercial spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) ophthalmic systems, adjustable sweep rates enabling high speed and long imaging range operating regimes, with imaging ranges >10x more than commercial SD-OCT ophthalmic systems. These advantages promise to enable a cost-effective, multi-modal OCT instrument capable of retinal, anterior eye and axial eye length imaging. This new generation of ophthalmic technology will enable wide field 3D-OCT retinal imaging for assessing retinal pathology, imaging the anterior eye for improved refractive power measurement, and axial eye length imaging for improved intraocular lens (IOL) implant assessment. The unique performance features of VCSELs will also facilitate functional imaging such as Doppler and polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT). The proposed program will build upon results from optically pumped, amplified 1310nm VCSELs from Praevium Research under a previous NIH-funded effort on VCSELs for OCT cancer imaging, to develop new electrically pumped, high power VCSELs at 850nm and 1050nm for ophthalmic imaging. These advances are made feasible by lower power requirements for ophthalmic OCT and mature Gallium Arsenide materials. A pure electrically pumped VCSEL technology would represent the first monolithic wafer-scale laser source for SS-OCT, significantly reducing the cost of laser sources and OCT systems. This would in turn enable penetration of ophthalmic OCT into new markets and clinical settings. These broad goals will be realized by addressing laser development, OCT system development, and clinical system validation. VCSEL performance will be increased by incorporating advanced designs and processing methods, with each generation of VCSELs integrated into ongoing clinical studies with collaborators in retinal, whole eye, and anterior eye imaging.

Public Health Relevance

This effort is expected to impact public health by creating a new high performance, low-cost generation of ophthalmic technology based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) using new tunable vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). This new technology will enable wide field 3-dimensional retinal imaging for assessing retinal pathology, imaging the anterior eye for improved refractive power measurement, axial eye length imaging for improved intraocular lens (IOL) implant assessment, and new modes of functional eye imaging. Reduced system cost will promote expansion of these capabilities into a broader range of clinical settings.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase II (R44)
Project #
5R44EY022864-03
Application #
8737259
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Wujek, Jerome R
Project Start
2012-09-30
Project End
2015-09-29
Budget Start
2014-09-30
Budget End
2015-09-29
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Praevium Research, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Santa Barbara
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
93111
Lee, ByungKun; Novais, Eduardo A; Waheed, Nadia K et al. (2017) En Face Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography Measurement of Total Retinal Blood Flow in Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema. JAMA Ophthalmol 135:244-251
Moult, Eric M; Choi, WooJhon; Boas, David A et al. (2017) Evaluating anesthetic protocols for functional blood flow imaging in the rat eye. J Biomed Opt 22:16005
Choi, WooJhon; Waheed, Nadia K; Moult, Eric M et al. (2017) ULTRAHIGH SPEED SWEPT SOURCE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY OF RETINAL AND CHORIOCAPILLARIS ALTERATIONS IN DIABETIC PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT RETINOPATHY. Retina 37:11-21
Rebhun, Carl B; Moult, Eric M; Novais, Eduardo A et al. (2017) Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy on Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography with Variable Interscan Time Analysis. Transl Vis Sci Technol 6:4
Cole, Emily D; Moult, Eric M; Dang, Sabin et al. (2017) The Definition, Rationale, and Effects of Thresholding in OCT Angiography. Ophthalmol Retina 1:435-447
Wang, Zhao; Potsaid, Benjamin; Chen, Long et al. (2016) Cubic meter volume optical coherence tomography. Optica 3:1496-1503
Lane, Mark; Ferrara, Daniela; Louzada, Ricardo Noguera et al. (2016) Diagnosis and Follow-Up of Nonexudative Choroidal Neovascularization With Multiple Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Devices: A Case Report. Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina 47:778-81
Schottenhamml, Julia; Moult, Eric M; Ploner, Stefan et al. (2016) AN AUTOMATIC, INTERCAPILLARY AREA-BASED ALGORITHM FOR QUANTIFYING DIABETES-RELATED CAPILLARY DROPOUT USING OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY. Retina 36 Suppl 1:S93-S101
Lane, Mark; Moult, Eric M; Novais, Eduardo A et al. (2016) Visualizing the Choriocapillaris Under Drusen: Comparing 1050-nm Swept-Source Versus 840-nm Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 57:OCT585-90
Ploner, Stefan B; Moult, Eric M; Choi, WooJhon et al. (2016) TOWARD QUANTITATIVE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY: Visualizing Blood Flow Speeds in Ocular Pathology Using Variable Interscan Time Analysis. Retina 36 Suppl 1:S118-S126

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