OREANDA-NEWS. In a joint partnership, NTT Advance Technology Corp. and Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. will start selling a 1.3-мm-band wavelength swept light source for use in optical coherence tomography (OCT) on February 1. OCT is a non-invasive in vivo imaging technique that is widely used in clinical applications.

NTT-AT has developed this product using the same technology employed in the manufacture of an electro-optic crystal called KTN (potassium tantalate niobate: KTa1-xNbxO3) developed for use in telecommunications by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. The product is a marriage between this technology and high-speed variable wavelength laser technology that uses the crystal. Achieving a wavelength sweep speed of 200 kHz, the world’s fastest (double that of conventional products), this light source will speed up OCT-based examinations, significantly reducing the physical impact on patients.

This light source will be on display in the booths of the two companies at the exhibition that will be held in conjunction with SPIE Photonics West 2013 in San Francisco from February 2 to 7.