DEVICE FOR COUPLING LOW NUMERICAL APERTURE LIGHT INPUT INTO HIGH NUMERICAL APERTURE OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

摘要

The illumination system includes a tapered bundle of molten optical fibers (10) having a light input end and a light input end (12) configured to receive light, the light input end (12) having a first cross-The tapered bundle has an output end 16 configured to output light and the output end 16 has a second cross sectional area d2 and a second numerical aperture na2 . The bundle of molten optical fibers 10 is tapered between the input end 12 and the output end 16 such that the size between the first and second cross sectional areas is different so that the light emitted at the output end 16 And has a higher numerical aperture. The first fiber optic light guide 28 is coupled to the light source to receive light from the light source and to transmit light to the input end 12 of the tapered bundle. The second fiber optic light guide 32 transmits light from the output end 16 of the bundle through a second fiber optic light guide 32 of an endoscope or other illumination device.