Real-time retinal imaging with a parallel optical coherence tomography using a CMOS smart array detector

We present a parallel optical coherence tomography(OCT) system using a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS) smart array detector. This paper includes descriptions of the CMOS smart array detector, and the experimental results of scattering surface targets including a wet tissue on an Air Force target, and ex vivo gold fish retina where the boundary between the vitreous humor and the ganglion cell layer could be identified in the acquired images. After three-dimensional volume rendering, several other layers between the ganglion cell layer and the choroid layer could be observed even though the contrast between the layers was weak. Control of the current version of the CMOS smart array detector requires significant time for maintenance. Although the current CMOS smart array detector needs improvement, the design is a promising ophthalmologic instrument and can provide fast retinal scanning and prompt display of the acquired images.