Host: University of Lübeck
Secondments: Optores GmbH, University of Kent, Applied Optics Group (AOG)/with guidance from UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital
PhD Project: Short wavelength FDML lasers
During my PhD project, an 850 nm Fourier Domain Mode-Locked (FDML) laser was successfully developed. This laser exhibited excellent characteristics for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), including an axial resolution of 9.9 µm in water, a sensitivity roll-off of 1.4 cm, and a sensitivity of 84.6 dB at a sweep repetition rate of 2 × 414 kHz. The laser’s design had to be rethought compared to longer wavelength FDML lasers due to higher chromatic dispersion.
The laser was utilized in ophthalmic OCT applications, employing a complex master-slave calibration method to obtain OCT volumes. This enabled the resolution of retinal layers of the human eye in vivo. Additionally, OCT B-scans were acquired using the bidirectional sweep of the FDML laser, achieving a rate of 828,000 axial scans per second. Recently, optical buffering has been implemented, allowing for a repetition rate of 3.2 MHz. Upcoming in vivo imaging sessions are planned.
Completed workshops, Seminars, and Conferences:
- International Day of light conference – Tampere University, Finland, OCT & photonics, Online Poster presentation “Towards an 800 nm FDML Laser”, 20-21/05/2021,
- Photonics West – San Francisco, Conference paper + Oral presentation “Ultra-high-accuracy chromatic dispersion measurement in optical fibers“, 24-26/01/2022
- Winter School – DTU Copenhagen, Denmark, Title oral presentation “850 nm FDML Laser“, 01-04/03/2022
- University of Kent, Title Poster presentation “850 nm FDML Laser“, 23-27/05/2022
- Autumn School – TUD Darmstadt, Germany, Title oral presentation “850 nm FDML Laser“, 04-07/10/2022
- Photonics West – San Francisco, Conference paper + Oral presentation “850 nm FDML: Performance and challenges“, 30/01/2023
- NETLAS Conference in conjunction with Markus Pessa International Summer School “New Frontiers in Optical Technologies”, Title oral presentation “828 kHz retinal imaging with an 840 nm Fourier domain mode-locked laser” August 7 – 11, 2023, Tampere, Finland
Publications:
- M. Klufts, S. Lotz, M. Bashir, S. Karpf and R. Huber, “Ultra-high-accuracy chromatic dispersion measurement in optical fibers”, Optical Components and Materials XIX, no. 11997, pp. 146 – 152, SPIE, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2608773
- Marie Klufts, Alejandro Martínez Jiménez, Simon Lotz, Muhammad Asim Bashir, Tom Pfeiffer, Alexander Mlynek, Wolfgang Wieser, Alexander Chamorovskiy, Adrian Bradu, Adrian Podoleanu, and Robert Huber, “828 kHz retinal imaging with an 840 nm Fourier domain mode locked laser,” Biomed. Opt. Express 14, 6493-6508 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.504302
- M. Klufts, S. Lotz, M. A. Bashir, T. Pfeiffer, A. Mlynek, W. Wieser, A. Chamorovskiy, V. Shidlovski, R. Huber, “850 nm FDML: performance and challenges,” Proc. SPIE 12367, Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XXVII, 1236705 (8 March 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2649646
- M. A. Bashir, S. Lotz, M. Klufts, I. Krestnikov, C. Jirauschek, R. Huber, “1190 nm Fourier domain mode locked (FDML) laser for optical coherence tomography (OCT),” Proc. SPIE 12367, Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XXVII, 1236707 (8 March 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2652884
- Klufts, M., Lotz, S., Bashir, M. A., Pfeiffer, T., Mlynek, A., Wieser, W., Chamorovskiy, A., Shidlovski, V., Podoleanu, A. and Huber, R. , “Dual Amplification 850 nm FDML Laser,” 2023 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), Munich, Germany, 2023, pp. 1-1, doi: 10.1109/CLEO/Europe-EQEC57999.2023.10232019.
- R. Riha, A. Martinez Jimenez, G. Venugopal, M. Klufts, R. Huber and A. Podoleanu, “Dispersion-Tuned Mode-Locked Laser for Swept Source OCT At 850 Nm Using a cFBG and the Pulse Modulation Technique,” in IEEE Photonics Journal, Vol 16, Issue 4, Aug 2024 10.1109/JPHOT.2024.3417829
Previous education:
After my preparatory class specialized in mechanics and physics, I continued my studies in biomedical engineering in France. During these 5 years, I had the opportunity to do several internship focusing on photonics. The first one at Femto-st allowed me to discover OCT. Then I had the opportunity to work with MD. Nicolas MOTTET in the study of fetal lung development by elastography. Lastly, I did a 3 month internship at the University of Auckland with Dr. Frédérique VANHOLSBEECK and Matthew GOODWIN on the early detection of osteoarthritis by PS-OCT.