Fixed distal optics endoscope employing multicore fiber

Abstract

Disclosed herein are configurations for fiber optic endoscopes employing fixed distal optics and multicore optical fiber.

1 . An optical endoscope system comprising:
 an optical receiver selected from the group consisting of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) receiver, time domain OCT receiver, confocal receiver, fluorescence receiver, Raman receive, and swept-source optical coherent tomography (SS-OCT) receiver;   an endoscope body including fixed distal optics; and   a multicore optical fiber optically coupling the fixed distal optics to the receiver.   
     
     
         2 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  further comprising N delay elements positioned in an optical path between the receiver and the fixed distal optics. 
     
     
         3 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  further comprising a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) onto which is fabricated the receiver. 
     
     
         4 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 3  further comprising a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) fabricated onto the PIC with the receiver. 
     
     
         5 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 4  further comprising a VCSEL transmitter, waveguides for beam handling and one or more optical receivers including a dual-balanced, dual-polarization I/Q receiver. 
     
     
         6 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 2  wherein said delay elements are configured such that different delays are introduced into different optical fiber paths such that N distinct intermediate frequencies are produced and applied to one or more photodetector(s). 
     
     
         7 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 6  further comprising a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing the N distinct intermediate frequencies. 
     
     
         8 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  further comprising a 1:N switch interposed between the receiver and the multicore optical fiber and configured such that a repetition rate of a laser comprising the receiver is synchronized to a switching of the 1:N switch. 
     
     
         9 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  wherein said fixed distal optics includes a number of collimating lenses and a number of fold mirrors. 
     
     
         10 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  wherein said fixed distal optics includes a collimating lens configured such that light beams output from the lens diverge. 
     
     
         11 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  wherein said fixed distal optics includes a collimating lens configured such that the light beams output from the lens converge at a common focal point. 
     
     
         12 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  wherein said fixed distal optics includes a fiber/lens coupler, a beam propagation region, and one or more beam deflector elements configured such that a number of optical beams are directed in a direction substantially orthogonal to an axis of the endoscope body. 
     
     
         13 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  wherein said fixed distal optics includes an integrated optical substrate configured such that a number of optical beams are directed in a direction away from an axis of the endoscope body. 
     
     
         14 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 13  wherein said integrated optical substrate includes a number of surface grating couplers that receive light from the multicore optical fiber and a subset of the number of grating couplers direct the light received in a direction away from an axis of the endoscope body. 
     
     
         15 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 14  wherein at least one of the couplers receives light from the multicore optical fiber and directs the light received in a direction along the axis of the endoscope body. 
     
     
         16 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 15  wherein said integrated optical substrate includes a number of optical waveguides which optically couple one or more of the optical fibers comprising the multicore optical fiber to one or more of the couplers. 
     
     
         17 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  further comprising a pull-back device configured to effect a translation of a scan region of the system wherein said translation is along an axis of the endoscope body. 
     
     
         18 . The optical endoscope system of  claim 1  wherein said fixed distal optics includes an integrated optical substrate configured such that a number of optical beams are directed in a direction away from an axis of the endoscope;
 wherein said integrated optical substrate includes a number of surface grating couplers that receive light from the multicore optical fiber and a number of emitting grating couplers that receive light from a respective one of the surface grating couplers via a respective optical waveguide; 
 wherein said light emitted by the emitting grating couplers is emitted in a direction substantially orthogonal to an axis of the endoscope body; 
 wherein said integrated optical substrate includes waveguides that couple light from the multicore optical fiber to the surface grating couplers; 
 wherein the waveguides that couple light from the multicore optical fiber to the surface grating couplers are in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to a plane including the waveguides that couple the surface grating couplers to the emitting couplers.