Miniaturized OCT Probe Adapter for Bundle Dispersion Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing scanning probes face challenges in miniaturizing high-speed, high-resolution systems, often resulting in slow, low-resolution, or large-diameter probes, and existing OCT methods using fiber bundles suffer from issues like bundle dispersion, sensitivity loss, and ghost images due to fiber length variations and multimode behavior.
Innovation Solution
The development of an adapter system that uses a splitter to produce interferometry patterns, allowing for miniaturized depth-resolved imaging by routing beams and illuminating samples with divergent light, enabling OCT imaging tolerant to bundle bending and suitable for confined spaces, such as the lung or eye, using optical relay devices like fiber bundles, GRIN rods, or Hopkins rods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If fiber bundles are used for OCT imaging, then miniaturization is achieved, but sensitivity is reduced due to bundle dispersion and fiber length variations
Solution Approach 1:
The fiber bundle is segmented into individual fiber channels, each processed independently through the adapter assembly. This allows compensation for length variations and dispersion effects on a per-fiber basis, maintaining sensitivity while preserving the miniaturized bundle structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The adapter assembly acts as an intermediary component between the fiber bundle and the imaging system. It includes reference arms and compensation mechanisms that mediate the optical path, correcting for bundle-induced distortions and preserving image quality despite the use of miniaturized fiber bundles.
2Volume of moving object
If fiber bundles are used for OCT imaging, then miniaturization is achieved, but ghost images are produced due to multimode behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter assembly extracts and separates the optical modes from each fiber channel before recombining them. By taking out the multimode effects at the fiber output and processing them through reference arms, the system eliminates ghost images while maintaining the compact fiber bundle structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the optical parameters (path length, mode distribution) of light from each fiber channel by introducing reference arms and compensation elements. This parameter transformation converts the problematic multimode output into controlled single-mode-like behavior, eliminating ghost images while preserving miniaturization.
3Volume of moving object
If scanning probes are miniaturized, then access to confined spaces is enabled, but resolution and speed are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter assembly provides multiple functions within a compact form: it serves as a beam splitter, reference arm holder, and compensation mechanism simultaneously. This multi-functionality enables high-resolution OCT imaging in miniaturized probes without requiring separate components for each function, maintaining both compactness and resolution.
4Length of moving object
If remote imaging is performed with OCT, then sensitivity is reduced due to optical path difference, but access to distant samples is enabled
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter assembly performs preliminary optical path compensation before the light reaches the sample. By establishing reference paths and pre-compensating for expected path differences, the system maintains sensitivity even when imaging distant samples through the fiber bundle.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables remote, high-resolution depth-resolved imaging in confined spaces with improved sensitivity and reduced component complexity, allowing for effective OCT imaging in challenging environments like the lung or eye, while maintaining transversal resolution and tolerating bundle bending.
Implementation Method 1
produce interferometry patterns on the input facet of the imaging device
Implementation Method 2
The imaging device can use an optical relay device to convey the interference pattern created by the adapter to a camera sensor
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method that can be used to remotely acquire high resolution depth resolved images from a sample. The apparatus employs an adapter to an imaging device, where the adapter uses a minimum of components to produce interferometry patterns on the input facet of the imaging device. The imaging device can be a bundle endoscope terminated on a camera sensor or on several camera sensors or simply a camera sensor. In conjunction with a swept source or a broadband source, at least one camera sensor may be employed to provide optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of the sample. When the imaging device uses a bundle of optical fibers, the apparatus and method can provide OCT images tolerant to bending of the bundle.