Line Scan Optical Interference Imaging for Skin Tissue Resolution

The patent transitions from conventional point-by-point scanning to a line scan approach using a cylindrical lens to shape the light into a line, enabling simultaneous acquisition of multiple data points across a line. This dimensional change from 1D to 2D imaging allows for improved axial resolution while maintaining high image quality through the use of a two-dimensional camera sensor that captures the entire line scan at once.

The imaging system is divided into distinct functional modules: a light source module, a cylindrical lens for line shaping, an interference objective module, and a two-dimensional camera module. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, with the cylindrical lens specifically designed to create the line scan pattern and the 2D camera optimized for capturing high-resolution interference patterns, thereby achieving superior axial resolution and image quality.

The line scan interference imaging device maintains continuous useful action by using a cylindrical lens to continuously shape the light into a line that scans across the sample. The two-dimensional camera continuously captures the interference patterns along the entire line scan, ensuring that every portion of the light path contributes to useful imaging data collection, thereby maximizing light utilization efficiency while maintaining high scanning speed.

By implementing line scan imaging instead of point scanning, the system acquires data across an entire line simultaneously, increasing the productivity by capturing multiple spatial positions at once. The two-dimensional camera sensor is configured to receive light signals from the line scan, converting the optical information into electrical signals for image reconstruction, thereby achieving both high scanning speed and efficient light utilization.