We present the smallest reported side-viewing needle probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT). Design, fabrication, optical characterization, and initial application of a 30-gauge (outer diameter 0.31 mm) needle probe are demonstrated. Extreme miniaturization is achieved by using a simple all-fiber probe design incorporating an angle-polished and reflection-coated fiber-tip beam deflector. When inserted into biological tissue, aqueous interstitial fluids reduce the probe's inherent astigmatism ratio to 1.8, resulting in a working distance of 300 μm and a depth-of-field of 550 μm with beam diameters below 30 μm. The needle probe was interfaced with an 840 nm spectral-domain OCT system and the measured sensitivity was shown to be only 7 dB lower than that of a comparable galvo-scanning sample arm configuration. 3D OCT images of lamb lungs were acquired over a depth range of ~600 μm, showing individual alveoli and bronchioles.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 26 May 2020.
All research outputs
#7,582,403
of 34,365,356 outputs
Outputs from Optics Letters
#2,682
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Outputs of similar age
#40,463
of 180,895 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Optics Letters
#20
of 122 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,365,356 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 15,703 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.1. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 122 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.
