Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for the alignment of an interferometric system. A spatial filter comprising a reflective pinhole is provided at the output of the interferometer, and tilt is measured by a tilt detection subsystem positioned to reimage the pinhole. A shear detection subsystem is positioned to image an offset of the interferometer beams. Tilt and shear offsets are determined by comparing measurements obtained from the tilt and shear subsystems with pre-recorded measurements obtained for an aligned state. The tilt and shear offsets are employed to realign the system using positioning controls corresponding a reduced number of dominant degrees of freedom of the system.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for generating a three-dimensional visualization image of an object such as an organ using volume visualization techniques and exploring the image using guided navigation that allows the operator to travel along a flight path and to adjust the view to a particular portion of the image of interest in order, for example, to identify polyps, cysts or other abnormal features in the visualized organ, wherein one or more series of two-dimensional renditions of the organ, correlated to the flight path location, are provided to an operator to assist in analyzing the organ, and the three-dimensional representation, a display of the flight path, and two-dimensional slices are simultaneously displayed to the operator.