High-resolution, extended depth-of-field (EDOF) optical coherence tomography (OCT) in tethered capsules can be achieved using a mirror-tunnel design, and then further modeled and optimized for enhanced performance. In this work, a model with initial dimensions yielded 13 µm full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) spot size over 1.5 mm DOF. An optimization algorithm produced a design that attained 8 µm FWHM over 1.5 mm DOF. The initial and optimized probes were fabricated, beam-profiled and integrated into capsules connected to a swept-source OCT system, for imaging swine esophagus in experiments. The resulting data comparison and analysis show the lateral resolution improvement achievable in optimized probes.
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