US 12,282,151 B2
Optical endoscope
Valerio Pruneri, Castelldefels (ES); and Robin Camphausen, Castelldefels (ES)
Appl. No. 16/768,566
Filed by FUNDACIÓ INSTITUT DE CIÈNCIES FOTÒNIQUES, Castelldefels (ES); and INSTITUCIÓ CATALANA DE RECERCA I ESTUDIS AVANÇATS, Barcelona (ES)
PCT Filed Nov. 30, 2017, PCT No. PCT/ES2017/070787
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 29, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/106209, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0310103 A1, Oct. 1, 2020
Int. Cl. G02B 6/26 (2006.01); A61B 1/00 (2006.01); A61B 1/07 (2006.01); G02B 23/26 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 23/26 (2013.01) [A61B 1/0011 (2013.01); A61B 1/00195 (2013.01); A61B 1/07 (2013.01); G02B 6/26 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical endoscope comprising:
an optical fiber element comprising:
a proximal end; and
a distal end, and
an optical waveguide block arranged at the distal end of the optical fiber element, the optical waveguide block comprising a rigid material with two or more optical waveguides formed therein, each of the two or more optical waveguides comprising:
a coupling end facing the optical fiber element and arranged on a first surface of the optical waveguide block; and
an object end facing away from the optical fiber element and arranged on a second surface of the optical waveguide block,
wherein a mapping of a spatial distribution of the coupling ends of the two or more optical waveguides to a spatial distribution of the object ends of the two or more waveguides is mirror symmetrical with regard to a plane extending parallel to a longitudinal axis of the optical fiber element.