We present a novel extended-focus optical coherence microscope (OCM) attaining 0.7 { \mu}m axial and 0.4 { \mu}m lateral resolution maintained over a depth of 40 { \mu}m, while preserving the advantages of Fourier domain OCM. Our method uses an ultra-broad spectrum from a super- continuum laser source. As the spectrum spans from near-infrared to visible wavelengths (240 nm in bandwidth), we call the method visOCM. The combination of such a broad spectrum with a high-NA objective creates an almost isotropic 3D submicron resolution. We analyze the imaging performance of visOCM on microbead samples and demonstrate its image quality on cell cultures and ex-vivo mouse brain tissue.
Categories: physics.bio-ph physics.optics