Fig. 2: OCT system noise characterization.

The variance in counts versus the mean counts (over 1024 measurements) at 1432 nm for the 80 MHz SuperK extreme (a), 320 MHz SuperK extreme (b), and ANDi SC source with 90 MHz repetition rate (c). Comparison of the variance in counts versus the mean counts for the 80 MHz SuperK extreme, 320 MHz SuperK extreme, and ANDi SC source with 90 MHz repetition rate at 1326 nm (d), and 1394 nm (e). Spectral counts across the spectrometer bandwidth for the three sources, when the counts at 1432 nm is fixed at the optimum value for imaging (250 counts for SuperK extreme sources and 1000 counts for the ANDi SC source) (f). The magenta curve shows the window used in the signal processing. g Corresponding variance in A-scans over 1024 measurements. In (d–g) the 80 MHz SuperK extreme, 320 MHz SuperK extreme, and ANDi SC source are shown as red, green, and blue curves, respectively. All measurements are taken with blocked sample arm