From Event: SPIE BiOS, 2019
Optical fiber bundles are the backbone of modern, ultra-thin, clinical fluorescence microendoscopes. Each core in the bundle acts as a pixel, allowing image transmission from inside hard to reach spaces in the body. Each core relays light from a given location in 2D space and therefore the bundle is thought to yield only a 2D image. However, we show that these fiber bundles do in fact transmit 3D information about the scene, by way of intensity distribution within the cores.
Our key observation is that the intra-core intensity distribution depends on the angular coupling efficiency of incoming light. Normally incident light tends to couple into the fundamental mode of the core, whereas oblique light couples to higher order modes that carry most of their energy near the core/cladding interface. By leveraging this phenomenon, we are able to extract 3D information from fiber bundle-based microendoscopes in the form of a light field. We show that this light field 3D information can be visualized in many ways, from stereo images to full-parallax animations, refocusing and depth mapping. Our light field fiber bundle imaging technique is single-shot, resistant to fiber bending and does not require any physical modification to stock optical fiber bundles.
In this talk we will outline the mathematical model of our technique and present several examples of light field fluorescence imaging through bare optical fiber bundles.
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Antony Orth, Martin Ploschner, Emma Wilson, Ivan Maksymov, and Brant C. Gibson, "Your optical fiber bundle microendoscope is a 3D light field microscope (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 10854, Endoscopic Microscopy XIV, 1085415 (Presented at SPIE BiOS: February 04, 2019; Published: 4 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2507547.6008522428001.