HandheldOCT is a five-year collaborative project that brings together seven partners with complementary expertise:
Tyndall will be responsible for all design and photonic packaging prototypes. This includes all mechanical, optical, electrical and thermal package design activities. Tyndall will take responsibility for integration of the various optical components, including coupling of the sensing optics using micro lens arrays. Tyndall will also take responsibility for electrical packaging.
AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
The Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (AIT) contributes the design of the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) required for the implementation of HandheldOCT's multi-channel swept-source OCT concept. AIT designs and characterizes the individual photonic building blocks and provides the PIC layout for the final OCT system.
In HandheldOCT, partner Carl Zeiss AG will develop a high-performance handheld ophthalmic device demonstrator with low-cost potential, that integrates the packaged, PIC-based OCT engine. The device will be ready for approval for clinical testing and validation by partner Medical University Vienna.
Nanoscribe offers auto-aligned, high-precision 3D printing to advance the fabrication of tailored microoptical components directly onto active and passive components as photonic chips and fiber cores. With the new Quantum X align the spatial orientation of the fiber cores or photonic chips is automatically detected, and freeform microoptical components or diffractive optical elements (DOEs) are printed directly in place, facilitating Free Space Microoptical Coupling (FSMOC) on photonic platforms and thus also for the Handheld OCT device.
Imec is developing the integrated photonics platform based on silicon nitride and the modified functional photonic components for the 1060nm OCT chip. Imec is also contributing the custom high-sensitivity transimpedance amplifiers for the integrated balanced photodetector.
Innolume (INNO) will lead the design and manufacturing of fully electrical tuneable laser chips, development of optical scheme and integration with high-speed control electronics to build complete wavelength swept source.
The Medical University of Vienna (MUW) coordinates HandheldOCT and is a main contributor to the development of the imaging system, the integration ethical and medical regulatory approval as well as clinical validation. Located in the largest European University hospital, MUW has a history of successful clinical collaboration.