US Patent 11131539 Multimodal image data acquisition system and method

A system and method for acquiring imaging data of an object. The system includes a beam splitter for directing a derivative sample beam towards the object and a derivative reference beam towards a reflective element; a detector for detecting at least one of the returned reference beam and the returned sample beam; a mode switching module for selecting an operating mode between an optical coherence tomography (OCT) mode and a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) mode; and a computing module for receiving the detection from the detector and the mode from the mode switching module, wherein in the OCT mode, the computing device generates OCT imaging data by determining an interference pattern produced by a superposition of the returned reference beam and the returned sample beam, and wherein in the HSI mode, the computing module generating hyperspectral imaging data by determining hyperspectral information of the returned sample beam.