A 2-axis Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based electromagnetic MEMS scanning mirror for optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive imaging tool for visualizing cross-sectional images of biological tissues on a microscale. Various microelectromechanical system (MEMS) techniques have been applied to OCT for endoscopic catheters and handheld probes. Despite having several advantages such as compact sizes and high speeds for real-time imaging, the complexities of the fabrication processes and relatively high costs were bottlenecks for fast clinical translation and commercialization of the earlier MEMS scanners. To overcome these issues, we developed a 2-axis polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based electromagnetic MEMS scanning mirror based on flexible, cost-effective, and handleable PDMS. The size of this MEMS scanner was 15 × 15 × 15 mm3. To realize the characteristics of the scanner, we obtained the DC/AC responses and scanning patterns. The measured maximum scanning angles were 16.6° and 11.6° along the X and Y axes, respectively. The resonance frequencies were 82 and 57 Hz along the X and Y axes, respectively. The scanning patterns (raster and Lissajous scan patterns) are also demonstrated by controlling the frequency and amplitude. Finally, we showed the in vivo 2D-OCT images of human fingers by using a spectral domain OCT system with a PDMSbased MEMS scanning mirror. We then reconstructed the 3D images of human fingers. The obtained field of view was 8 × 8 mm2. The PDMS-based MEMS scanning mirror has the potential to combine other optical modalities and be widely used in preclinical and clinical translation research.