Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) systems have become an essential retinal imaging tool for ophthalmologists but their cost of up to $150,000 for clinical systems has restricted access to only large eye centers. There is significant opportunity for using OCT at the point of care, if a low cost instrument were available. The lower cost will permit use of OCT technology by a wider range of physicians and optometrists. The technology and innovation in this project will enable low cost novel mobile health applications currently unavailable.
The goal of this EAGER proposal is to create a low cost, high performance spectrometer based on line scan sensors typically used for fingerprint scanners in cell phones. Many cell phones incorporate fingerprint scanners based on a variety of sensing methods. Most fingerprint scanners use an optical sensor, which are an ideal format for spectroscopy with single line high pixel count sensor elements. In this project the PI seeks to demonstrate proof of principle using an optical fingerprint scanner for high performance spectroscopy. The proposed spectrometer will be low cost (<$500) and enable high resolution spectroscopy as well as fast signal acquisition. To demonstrate the utility of the proposed platform, they will create a spectrometer design suitable for spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
