Endoscope and polarization illumination system thereof

Abstract

The polarization illumination system comprises at least two polarization light sources, at least two light guide optical fibers and a polarization beam combiner, the light guide optical fibers are connected to the polarization light sources in a one-to-one correspondence mode and used for light emitting of the polarization light sources, and the polarization beam combiner comprises a beam combining output end and at least two beam combining input ends. The light guide optical fibers are connected to the beam combining input ends in a one-to-one correspondence mode. After the polarization beam combiner is adopted, beam combination can be completed only by correspondingly connecting the light guide optical fibers of the two polarization light sources meeting the beam combination condition, for example, welding the light guide optical fibers to the beam combination input end of the polarization beam combiner, and polarized light is output from the beam combination output end. The polarization illumination system does not need to adopt a complex lens group design, greatly simplifies a beam combination light path, reduces the assembly difficulty of the illumination system, and can reduce the overall size of the illumination system.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The utility model relates to endoscope technical field, in particular to a kind of endoscope and its polarized illumination system. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the related art, the illumination system of endoscope generally adopts the scheme of illuminating after the beam combination of multiple light sources of different colors. The beam combination generally adopts a free-space beam combination scheme. The entire beam combination optical path includes a collimating mirror group, a dichroic mirror beam combination mirror group, a focusing mirror group, etc. The beam combination optical path is relatively complex, the assembly difficulty is relatively high, and the overall size of the illumination system is also relatively large. SUMMARY

[0003] Embodiments of the utility model provide an endoscope and a polarized illumination system thereof to simplify the beam combination optical path of the illumination system of endoscope.

[0004] A polarized illumination system for an endoscope, the polarized illumination system comprising:

[0005] at least two polarized light sources;

[0006] at least two light-guiding optical fibers, the light-guiding optical fibers being connected one-to-one to the polarized light sources and being used for light emission of the polarized light sources; and

[0007] a polarization beam combiner comprising a beam combination output end and at least two beam combination input ends, the light-guiding optical fibers being connected one-to-one to the beam combination input ends.

[0008] In one embodiment, the polarization beam combiner comprises an output optical fiber and at least two input optical fibers, the input optical fibers having the beam combination input ends, and the output optical fiber having the beam combination output end.

[0009] In one embodiment, the light-guiding optical fibers are fused to the input optical fibers.

[0010] In one embodiment, the polarized illumination system comprises a spectral beam combiner, the spectral beam combiner comprising a spectral output end and at least two spectral input ends; the polarization beam combiner is provided in two or more, and the output optical fibers of the two or more polarization beam combiners are connected one-to-one to the spectral input ends.

[0011] In one embodiment, the spectral beam combiner comprises an output optical fiber and at least two input optical fibers, the input optical fibers having the spectral input ends, and the output optical fiber having the spectral output end, and the output optical fiber is connected to the input optical fibers.

[0012] In one embodiment, the output optical fiber is fused to the input optical fibers.

[0013] In one of the embodiments, the polarized illumination system comprises a coupling mirror, which is arranged between the polarized light source and the light guide fiber, and is used to couple the light rays of the polarized light source to the light guide fiber.

[0014] In one of the embodiments, the spectral combiner is a polarization maintaining fiber spectral combiner.

[0015] In one of the embodiments, the polarized illumination system comprises a fiber splitter, which comprises a splitting input end and at least two splitting output ends, and the light rays of the splitting output ends are incident from the splitting input end and are emitted from the splitting output ends.

[0016] In one of the embodiments, the fiber splitter comprises more than two splitting input ends.

[0017] An endoscope, characterized in comprising an imaging module and the polarized illumination system according to any one of the above embodiments, and the polarized light source is used to illuminate the imaging module.

[0018] The polarized illumination system is used in an endoscope, and the polarized illumination system comprises at least two polarized light sources, at least two light guide fibers and a polarization combiner, the light guide fibers are connected to the polarized light sources one by one and are used for light emission of the polarized light sources, and the polarization combiner comprises a combiner output end and at least two combiner input ends, and the light guide fibers are connected to the combiner input ends one by one. After the polarization combiner is used, the light guide fibers of the two polarized light sources meeting the combiner condition are connected to, for example, fused to the combiner input ends of the polarization combiner, and the combiner is completed, and the polarized light is output from the combiner output end. This polarized illumination system does not need to use a complex mirror group design, greatly simplifies the combiner optical path, reduces the assembly difficulty of the illumination system, and can reduce the overall size of the illumination system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings needed in the following embodiment or prior art description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor.

[0020] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the polarized illumination system of the first embodiment;

[0021] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the polarized illumination system of the second embodiment;

[0022] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the polarized illumination system of the third embodiment;

[0023] Figure 4 schematic diagram of one embodiment of a fiber splitter;

[0024] Figure 5 schematic diagram of a polarization illumination system of a fourth embodiment;

[0025] Figure 6 schematic diagram of another embodiment of a fiber splitter of one embodiment;

[0026] Figure 7 schematic diagram of a polarization illumination system of a fifth embodiment.

[0027] Reference Signs:

[0028] polarization illumination system 10, polarization combiner 11, output fiber 11a, input fiber 11b, combiner output end 111, combiner input end 113, first polarization combiner 1101, second polarization combiner 1103, third polarization combiner 1105, fourth polarization combiner 1107, fifth polarization combiner 1109, coupling mirror 12, polarized light source 13, light guide fiber 15, spectral combiner 17, output fiber 17a, spectral output end 171, spectral input end 173, fiber splitter 19, splitter input end 191, splitter output end 193 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the application, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings. There can, of course, be many variations of the application and the application is defined not by the specific embodiments described herein, but by the appended claims. It is therefore contemplated that there can be other embodiments, which fall within the scope of the present application. Any feature described herein can be replaced by an alternative feature serving the same or a similar purpose, unless any such substitution is technically infeasible.

[0030] It is to be understood that the hereinafter use of terms such as "fixing", "connected", "connecting", and "mounting" shall include any form of fixed, connected, connecting or mounted, integral, or partially integral to the applicable parties by either a direct or indirect coupling or support and that the relative terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right", and the like shall be used in keeping with the typical meaning thereof per the context of the following claims.

[0031] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terminology used in the description of the application herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety for the teachings relevant to the sentence and / or paragraph in which the reference is presented.

[0032] Reference Figure 1 The present application discloses a polarized illumination system 10, which can be used in an endoscope (not shown) to provide illumination during endoscopy. The endoscope can include an imaging module (not shown) and the polarized illumination system 10, which emits light to illuminate physiological tissue to provide illumination for imaging of the imaging module.

[0033] The polarized illumination system 10 includes a polarization combiner 11 and at least two polarized light sources 13, and at least two light guide fibers 15, which are connected to the polarized light sources 13 one by one and used for light emission of the polarized light sources 13. The polarization combiner 11 includes a combiner output end 111 and at least two combiner input ends 113, and the light guide fibers 15 are connected to the combiner input ends 113 one by one.

[0034] The polarization combiner 11, also known as a polarization multiplexer, is an optical device mainly used for combining two or more polarized lights into one. Exemplarily, the same wavelength laser light sources can use different polarization states, one laser light source uses one combiner input end 113 of the polarization combiner 11 to achieve slow-axis polarization, and the other laser light source uses another combiner input end 113 of the polarization combiner 11 to achieve fast-axis polarization. The combiner output end 111 of the polarization combiner 11 can simultaneously output the light energy of the two laser light sources and maintain the polarization states of the two laser light sources. The light guide fiber 15 is not limited to a quartz or glass fiber.

[0035] Further, the polarization combiner 11 can include an output fiber 11a and at least two input fibers 11b, the input fibers 11b have combiner input ends 113, and the output fiber 11a has a combiner output end 111. The input fibers 11b and the output fiber 11a can be made of the same material, for example, both are quartz fibers or both are glass fibers. Of course, the input fibers 11b and the output fiber 11a can be made of different materials, for example, one is a quartz fiber and the other is a glass fiber.

[0036] Further, the light guide fiber 15 can be fused to the input fiber 11b. Exemplarily, the light guide fiber 15 and the input end of the input fiber 11b are fused together by a fusion machine, and the beam combining of two or more polarized light sources 13 can be achieved without the need for a collimating mirror group and a beam combining mirror group. The fused optical fiber can be freely bent, occupies small space, and the length of the polarization combiner 11 is generally within 10 cm, which occupies much smaller space than the beam combining mirror group. Therefore, the size of the illumination system obtained by using the polarization combiner 11 is much smaller than that of the illumination system obtained by using the free-space beam combining method.

[0037] In practical application, the light guide fiber 15 connected with the laser light source and the input fiber 11b of the polarization beam combiner 11 are fused together by a fusion machine, and the beam combination is completed. The whole process takes very short time, and does not need complex optical lens design and assembly. The whole process is relatively simple.

[0038] In the related art, the diameter of the light guide fiber 15 is generally 1-5 mm. When the precision and reliability requirements of the illumination system are not high, the free space beam combination scheme can meet the precision and reliability requirements. When the diameter of the light guide fiber 15 becomes thin, reaching 1-500 um, the light guide fiber 15 is too thin, and the precision and reliability requirements of the optical part of the illumination system become extremely high. The optical system of the free space beam combination scheme is relatively complex, and the whole optical path is relatively long. The more complex the optical system is, the longer the optical path is, and the worse the reliability and precision of the illumination system are. Therefore, the free space beam combination scheme is difficult to meet the needs of the thin light guide fiber 15 with a diameter of 1-500 um.

[0039] When the polarization illumination system 10 of the present application is adopted, the polarization illumination system 10 includes a polarization beam combiner 11 and at least two polarization light sources 13 and at least two light guide fibers 15. The light guide fibers 15 are connected to the polarization light sources 13 one by one and are used for light output of the polarization light sources 13. The polarization beam combiner 11 includes a beam combination output end 111 and at least two beam combination input ends 113. The light guide fibers 15 are connected to the beam combination input ends 113 one by one. After the polarization beam combiner 11 is adopted, the light guide fibers 15 of the two polarization light sources 13 which meet the polarization beam combination conditions (consistent central wavelength range and perpendicular polarization state) are connected, for example, fused to the beam combination input ends 113 of the polarization beam combiner 11, and the beam combination is completed. The polarization light is output from the beam combination output end 111. This polarization illumination system 10 does not need to adopt a complex lens group design, greatly simplifies the beam combination path, reduces the assembly difficulty of the illumination system, can reduce the overall size of the illumination system, and improves the reliability and precision of the illumination system. When the illumination system adopts a thin light guide fiber 15 with a diameter of 1-500 um, the polarization illumination system 10 of the present application is particularly suitable. Of course, the illumination system of the present application is also suitable for general diameter (1-5 mm) light guide fibers 15, and therefore has better compatibility.

[0040] It can be understood that one of the light guide fiber 15 and the input fiber 11b can be omitted. For example, referring to Figure 2 The polarization illumination system 10 includes a coupling mirror 12 which is arranged between the polarization light source 13 and the light guide fiber 15. The coupling mirror 12 can include one or more optical lenses which are used for coupling the light of the polarization light source 13 to the light guide fiber 15. The light guide fiber is connected to the beam combination input end 113 of the polarization beam combiner 11.

[0041] Further, referring to Figure 3The polarization illumination system 10 includes a spectral combiner 17, which includes a spectral output end 171 and at least two spectral input ends 173, and is used to combine light beams of different central wavelengths. The polarization combiner 11 is provided as two or more, and the output optical fiber 11a of each polarization combiner 11 is connected to the spectral input end 173 in one-to-one correspondence. For example, the spectral combiner 17 includes an output optical fiber 17a and at least two input optical fibers (not shown in the figure), the input optical fibers have the spectral input end 173, and the output optical fiber 17a has the spectral output end 171, and the output optical fiber 11a is connected to the input optical fiber. For example, the output optical fiber 11a and the input optical fiber are fused together by a fusion splicer, which has high processing efficiency.

[0042] For example, in the embodiment shown in the figure, Figure 3 In the embodiment shown in the figure, the polarization combiner 11 is provided as five, each polarization combiner 11 has two input optical fibers 11b and one output optical fiber 11a, the spectral combiner 17 has five input optical fibers and one output optical fiber 17a, the five input optical fibers are fused to the output optical fibers 11a of the five polarization combiners 11 in one-to-one correspondence, and the output optical fiber 17a can output a multi-spectral illumination light source with polarization information, which is used for endoscope illumination.

[0043] The polarization combiner 11 can be divided into a first polarization combiner 1101, a second polarization combiner 1103, a third polarization combiner 1105, a fourth polarization combiner 1107, and a fifth polarization combiner 1109. The first polarization combiner 1101 is used to combine two violet light (central wavelength 405-425 nm) polarization light sources 13, the second polarization combiner 1103 is used to combine two blue light (central wavelength 440-490 nm) polarization light sources 13, the third polarization combiner 1105 is used to combine two green light (central wavelength 500-580 nm) polarization light sources 13, the fourth polarization combiner 1107 is used to combine two orange light (central wavelength 580-610 nm) polarization light sources 13, and the fifth polarization combiner 1109 is used to combine two red light (central wavelength 610-640 nm) polarization light sources 13.

[0044] In some embodiments, the spectral combiner 17 can be a polarization maintaining fiber spectral combiner. The polarization maintaining fiber spectral combiner can be used to spectrally combine laser light sources with slow-axis polarization and fast-axis polarization to form a multi-spectral illumination light source with polarization information, which is used for endoscope illumination.

[0045] Further, with reference to Figure 4 and Figure 5In other embodiments, the polarization illumination system 10 can include a fiber beam splitter 19, which includes a beam splitting input end 191 and at least two beam splitting output ends 193, the light rays of the beam splitting input end 191 can be directly or indirectly incident from the beam splitting input end 191 and exit from the beam splitting output ends 193. Illustratively, the fiber beam splitter 19 includes one beam splitting input end 191 and two beam splitting output ends 193, the polarized beam combined light rays, or the polarized and spectrally combined light rays, are incident from the beam splitting input end 191 and exit from the beam splitting output ends 193. The output light energy ratio of the two beam splitting output ends 193 can be 1:1, that is, 50% of the light rays incident from the beam splitting input end 191 exit from one beam splitting output end 193 and the remaining 50% exit from the other beam splitting output end 193, obtaining an energy-uniform double-illumination output.

[0046] Reference Figure 6 and Figure 7 In other embodiments, the fiber beam splitter 19 can include more than two beam splitting input ends 191. Illustratively, the fiber beam splitter 19 includes two beam splitting input ends 191 and two beam splitting output ends 193, the polarized beam combined light rays, or the polarized and spectrally combined light rays, are incident from the beam splitting input ends 191 and exit from the beam splitting output ends 193. The output light energy ratio of the two beam splitting output ends 193 can be 1:1, that is, 50% of the light rays incident from one of the beam splitting input ends 191 exit from one beam splitting output end 193 and the remaining 50% exit from the other beam splitting output end 193; 50% of the light rays incident from the other beam splitting input end 191 also exit from one beam splitting output end 193 and the remaining 50% exit from the other beam splitting output end 193, obtaining an energy-uniform double-illumination output. The two beam splitting input ends 191 can be input simultaneously. Such a fiber beam splitter 19 can achieve higher brightness illumination or more functions.

[0047] Any combination of the technical features in the above-described embodiments can be made, and in order to make the description concise, all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are not described, however, as long as the combination of the technical features does not exist, it should be considered as the scope of the description.

[0048] The above-described embodiments only express several implementation manners of the present application, the description is relatively specific and detailed, but it should not be understood as a limitation on the scope of the patent. It should be noted that for ordinary skilled persons in the art, without departing from the concept of the present application, a number of modifications and improvements can be made, which all belong to the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of the present application should be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A polarized illumination system characterized in that, A polarized illumination system for an endoscope, the polarized illumination system comprising: at least two polarized light sources; at least two light guide fibers, the light guide fibers being connected to the polarized light sources one-to-one and used for light emission of the polarized light sources; and a polarization combiner comprising a combiner output end and at least two combiner input ends, the light guide fibers being connected to the combiner input ends one-to-one.

2. The polarized illumination system of claim 1, wherein The polarization combiner comprises an output fiber and at least two input fibers, the input fibers having the combiner input ends, and the output fiber having the combiner output end.

3. The polarized illumination system of claim 2, wherein, The light guide fibers are fused to the input fibers.

4. The polarized illumination system of claim 2, wherein, The polarized illumination system comprises a spectral combiner comprising a spectral output end and at least two spectral input ends; the polarization combiner is provided in two or more, the output fibers of the two or more polarization combiners being connected to the spectral input ends one-to-one.

5. The polarized illumination system of claim 4, wherein, The spectral combiner comprises an output fiber and at least two input fibers, the input fibers having the spectral input ends, and the output fiber having the spectral output end, the output fibers being fused to the input fibers.

6. The polarized illumination system of claim 4, wherein, The spectral combiner is a polarization maintaining fiber spectral combiner.

7. The polarized illumination system of any of claims 1-6, wherein, The polarized illumination system comprises a coupling mirror, the coupling mirror being disposed between the polarized light sources and the light guide fibers, the coupling mirror being used for coupling light rays of the polarized light sources to the light guide fibers.

8. The polarized illumination system of any of claims 1-6, wherein, The polarized illumination system comprises a fiber splitter, the fiber splitter comprising a splitter input end and at least two splitter output ends, light rays of the combiner output end being incident from the splitter input end and being emitted from the splitter output ends.

9. The polarized illumination system of claim 8, wherein, The fiber splitter comprises two or more splitter input ends.

10. An endoscope characterized by comprising: The polarized illumination system of any one of claims 1-9 is used for illuminating an imaging module.

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