3D in vivo imaging with extended-focus optical coherence microscopy.

Optical coherence microscopy (OCM) has unique advantages of non-invasive 3D imaging without the need of exogenous labels for studying biological samples. However, the imaging depth of this technique is limited by the tradeoff between the depth of focus (DOF) and high lateral resolution in Gaussian optics. To overcome this limitation, we have developed an extended-focus OCM (xf-OCM) imaging system using quasi-Bessel beam illumination to extend the DOF to ∼100 μm, about 3-fold greater than standard OCM. High lateral resolution of 1.6 μm ensured detailed identification of structures within live animal samples. The insensitivity to spherical aberrations strengthened the capability of our xf-OCM system in 3D biological imaging.