US 11,696,689 B2
System and method for axially resolved light collection from a tapered waveguide
Ferruccio Pisanello, Lecce (IT); Marco Pisanello, Alliste (IT); Leonardo Sileo, Calimera (IT); Bernardo L. Sabatini, Newton, MA (US); and Massimo De Vittorio, Lecce (IT)
Assigned to FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA, Genoa (IT)
Appl. No. 16/493,938
Filed by FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA, Genoa (IT); and PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, Cambridge, MA (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 14, 2018, PCT No. PCT/IB2018/051699
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 13, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/167685, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 20, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 102017000028787 (IT), filed on Mar. 15, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0138296 A1, May 7, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/0075 (2013.01) [A61B 5/0084 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for light collection through a probe implanted in a tissue, said system including
a light collecting probe comprising a waveguide formed by a single optical fiber and having a proximal end and a distal end, said proximal end being formed with a taper along which at least one optical window is positioned, wherein said single optical fiber is capable of sustaining a plurality of guided modes of light propagating in said single optical fiber, and wherein light entering at an axial section of the taper generates a respective subset of guided modes of said plurality of guided modes defined by a diameter of the single optical fiber at said axial section, said subset of guided modes propagating toward the distal end of the waveguide and generating a respective radial light intensity profile at the distal end of the waveguide;
a demultiplexer configured to receive a plurality of said radial light intensity profiles provided by the light collecting probe and associated to a plurality of respective light input points along the taper, said demultiplexer being configured to discriminate said radial light intensity profiles based on their modal content of origin; and
a detector configured to collect a far-field pattern of the discriminated radial light intensity profiles provided by the demultiplexer.