AIM--To present a new non-invasive method of performing a high definition topography of perfused vessels of the retina and the optic nerve head with simultaneous evaluation of blood flow. METHOD--By a combination of a laser Doppler flowmeter with a scanning laser system the perfusion of the retina and the optic nerve head is visualised. The principles of measuring blood flow by laser Doppler flowmetry are based on the optical Doppler effect: laser light scattered by a moving particle is shifted in frequency by an amount delta f. Our data acquisition and evaluation system is a modified laser scanning tomograph. The technical data are retinal area of measurement 2.7 mm x 0.7 mm, 10 degrees field with 256 points x 64 lines, measurement accuracy 10 microns, wavelength 670 nm and 790 nm, light power 100 microW and 200 microW, data acquisition time 2.048 s. Every line is scanned 128 times by a line sampling rate of 4000 Hz. By performing a discrete fast Fourier transformation over 128 intensities of each retinal point the laser Doppler shift is calculated for each retinal point. With these data a two dimensional map with 256 x 64 points of the retinal perfusion is created. The brightness of the pixel is coded by the value of the Doppler shift. Offline capillary blood flow is estimated in arbitrary units according to the theory of laser Doppler flowmetry in every region of interest of the perfusion picture. We estimated the reliability and the validity of the method. Retinal blood flow was measured by scanning laser Doppler flowmetry (SLDF) while varying intraocular pressure by a suction cup of three healthy volunteers. Measurements of retinal blood flow performed in 47 eyes by the presented method (SLDF) were correlated with data gained by a commercially available laser Doppler flowmeter. Perfusion pictures of the superficial retinal layer and of deep prelaminar layers in the optic nerve head are presented. RESULTS--The reliability coefficients r1 of 'flow', 'volume', and 'velocity' were 0.84, 0.85, and 0.84 respectively. We found a significant linear relation between SLDF flow and the ocular perfusion pressure (r = 0.84, p < 0.001). Comparative measurements of the retinal blood flow by SLDF and a commercially available laser Doppler flowmeter showed a linear and significant relation (flow r = 0.6, p < 0.0001, volume r = 0.4, p < 0.01). Capillaries of the retinal superficial vasculature or deep ciliary sourced capillaries of the optic nerve head became visible with a high resolution by the confocal technique dependent on the focus. Offline, the blood flow variables of areas of 100 microns x 100 microns were calculated. CONCLUSION--SLDF enables the visualisation of perfused capillaries and vessels of the retina and the optic nerve head in high resolution by two dimensional mapping of perfusion variables which are encoded by the Doppler signal. This method achieves simultaneously qualitative and quantitative evaluation of capillary blood flow of distinct areas of the capillary meshwork.

We present a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM)-based 2R-regenerator setup, which is capable of regenerating signals modulated in phase-sensitive modulation formats. In a conventional NOLM, fluctuations of the signal amplitude are converted into phase fluctuations. Therefore, it is not suitable for regeneration of signals, modulated in formats such as differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) or duobinary. In this letter, we present a modified NOLM setup for 2R-regeneration taking return-to-zero DPSK as an example.

An optical low-coherence interferometry technique has been used to simultaneously resolve the mode profile and to measure the intermodal dispersion of guided modes of a few-mode fiber. Measurements are performed using short samples of fiber (about 50 cm). There is no need for a complex mode-conversion technique to reach a high interference visibility. Four LP mode groups of the few-mode fiber are resolved. Experimental results and numerical simulations show that the ellipticity of the fiber core leads to a distinct splitting of the degenerate high-order modes in group index. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, it has been demonstrated that degenerate LP11 modes are much more sensitive to core shape variations than the fundamental modes and that intermodal dispersion of high-order degenerate modes can be used for characterizing the anisotropy of an optical waveguide.

We apply a fast terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) system based on electronically controlled optical sampling (ECOPS) to contact-free thickness gauging. Our setup achieves a measurement speed of 1600 terahertz pulse traces per second, which—to our knowledge—represents the fastest thickness measurement performed with any terahertz system to-date. Using a silicon wafer as a test sample, we compare data of the ECOPS experiment to results obtained with a conventional terahertz TDS system and a mechanical micrometer gauge. We show that all systems provide consistent results within the measurement accuracy. Moreover, we perform thickness measurements of a rapidly moving sample and characterize the ECOPS setup with respect to time-domain dynamic range, signal-to-noise ratio, and spectral properties.

The performance of a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror as a 2R-regenerator for return-to-zero differential-phase-shift-keyed signals has been investigated experimentally. The measured power characteristics and phase functions show that the signal amplitude is regenerated while the signal phase is preserved in the setup. A significant eye-opening improvement and a negative power penalty of about 1.5 dB were obtained