A space-division multiplexing optical coherence tomography apparatus arid system is provided, in one embodiment, the system includes a light source, a reference arm. and a sample arm. The sample arm splits the sampling light into a plurality of sampling beams which may be scanned simultaneously onto a surface of a sample. An optical delay may be introduced into the sampling beams before scanning. A plurality of reflected light signals returned from the sample is collected. In one arrangement, the signals may be combined to produce a single reflected light signal The reflected light sigtial(s) and a reference signal are combined to produce an interference signal comprising data representative of digitized images captured of the actual object, in one embodiment, a single sample arm may be used for scanning and collecting image data. A related method is also provided.
