Beam steering for optical fibers and other related devices
DCFirst Claim
1. A fiber optic assembly for light-based characterization of a highly spatially specific region within an investigative medium comprising:
- a light delivery fiber comprising a main section and a distally located terminal end,a light collection fiber, parallel and substantially adjacent to the light-delivery fiber, comprising a main section and a distally located terminal end,a three-dimensional illumination pattern extending externally outward from an illumination surface region on said assembly and defining at least one illumination optical axis intersecting the illumination surface region,a three-dimensional collection pattern extending externally outward from a collection surface region on said assembly and defining at least one collection optical axis intersecting the collection surface region, said illumination surface region and said collection surface region encompassed within a contiguous surface region on said assembly, anda beam steering element, positioned between said contiguous surface region and at least one of the light delivery fiber main section and the light collection fiber main section, operable to deflect a stream of photons between traveling along an optical fiber'"'"'s longitudinal axis and a trajectory departing from the fiber'"'"'s longitudinal axis, said beam steering element comprising means for deflecting photons traveling through said element while said photons are resident within said beam steering element,said beam steering element causing a converging of the illumination optical axis and the collection optical axis in close proximity to said contiguous surface region and providing for a highly spatially specific region within the investigative medium to which light-based characterization is biased.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Manipulation and management of fiber optic light at the optical fiber level. Use of beam steering techniques on optical fibers that are part of fiber optic probes results in an improved fiber optic probe assembly for low light spectrographic analysis that exhibits improved response to subtle light-matter interactions of high analytical importance and reduced sensitivity to otherwise dominant effects. This is accomplished by adjusting the illumination and collection fields of view in order to optimize the probe'"'"'s sensitivity. Light manipulation is applied at the optical fiber level so that the probe'"'"'s delivery pattern and field of view do not require external manipulation and are not adversely affected by investigated media. This allows the light delivery pattern or field of view or both to be aggressively steered off-axis to achieve significantly increased performance levels. Aggressive beam steering is accomplished by employing internally reflective surfaces in the fiber. A reflective metal coating or low refractive index coatings or encapsulants can be used to facilitate internal reflection.
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Citations
62 Claims
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1. A fiber optic assembly for light-based characterization of a highly spatially specific region within an investigative medium comprising:
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a light delivery fiber comprising a main section and a distally located terminal end, a light collection fiber, parallel and substantially adjacent to the light-delivery fiber, comprising a main section and a distally located terminal end, a three-dimensional illumination pattern extending externally outward from an illumination surface region on said assembly and defining at least one illumination optical axis intersecting the illumination surface region, a three-dimensional collection pattern extending externally outward from a collection surface region on said assembly and defining at least one collection optical axis intersecting the collection surface region, said illumination surface region and said collection surface region encompassed within a contiguous surface region on said assembly, and a beam steering element, positioned between said contiguous surface region and at least one of the light delivery fiber main section and the light collection fiber main section, operable to deflect a stream of photons between traveling along an optical fiber'"'"'s longitudinal axis and a trajectory departing from the fiber'"'"'s longitudinal axis, said beam steering element comprising means for deflecting photons traveling through said element while said photons are resident within said beam steering element, said beam steering element causing a converging of the illumination optical axis and the collection optical axis in close proximity to said contiguous surface region and providing for a highly spatially specific region within the investigative medium to which light-based characterization is biased. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A fiber optic probe assembly, comprising:
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a first fiber including an end face having a first shape; and a second fiber including an end face having a second shape; the first fiber and second fiber being parallel to each other at their end faces; and the second shape providing an internally reflective surface for directing the field of view associated with the second fiber toward the first fiber.
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20. An optical fiber having an internal beam steering mechanism, comprising:
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a main section defining a longitudinal axis along which light comprising photons propagates through the main section, an end face, and means for deflecting at least a portion of photons propagating within the optical fiber while such photons are propagating within the optical fiber, whereby the optical pattern of photons passing through the end face and deflected by the deflecting means defines an external optical axis that diverges from the longitudinal axis. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A fiber optic probe assembly, comprising:
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a central fiber having a distal end and an end face at its distal end, a plurality of fibers surrounding the central fiber, at least one of said fibers having a distal end, a shaped end face at its distal end and a longitudinal axis, wherein a portion of the shaped end face comprises an internally reflective surface that substantially reflects photons striking said surface, whereby a first light pattern of the light passing through the shaped end face and not incident upon the internally reflective surface has an optical axis that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis, and whereby a second light pattern of the light passing through the shaped end face and incident upon the internally reflective surface has an optical axis that has its point of nearest approach to the optical axis of the light pattern of the central fiber at a point in front of the end faces of at least one of the central fibers and the plurality of fibers. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A fiber optic probe assembly for performing light-based characterization of a material by delivering first photons into an investigative medium and collecting photons resulting from interactions between the first photons and the investigative medium, said collected photons generally traveling in directions different than the direction of travel of the first photons, comprising:
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a first optical fiber having a distal end, and a second optical fiber having a distal end and a longitudinal axis, the first optical fiber and second optical fiber being substantially parallel to each other at their distal ends, and means for changing the angle of travel with respect to the longitudinal axis of at least a portion of photons traveling within the second optical fiber while said photons are traveling within the second optical fiber so that the light pattern associated with the second optical fiber is directed toward the area in front of the distal end of the first optical fiber. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A fiber optic probe assembly, comprising:
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a first fiber including an end face, and a second fiber having an end face, at least of portion of which is part of the same contiguous surface area as at least a portion of the end face of the first fiber, and means for changing the direction of travel of at least a portion of photons propagating within the second fiber, such redirection occurring on the other side of the second fiber'"'"'s end face from an investigative medium, so that the optical pattern associated with the redirected photons is directed generally toward the area in front of the end face of the first fiber. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A fiber optic probe assembly, comprising:
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at least one delivery fiber for delivering light and defining an illumination zone, at least one collection fiber for collecting light and defining a collection zone, and at least one means for reflecting light, said reflecting means positioned so as to change the angular orientation of at least a portion of light propagating within the assembly, such change in angular orientation occurring within the assembly, so that the illumination zone and the collection zone overlap closer to the boundary between the assembly and an investigative medium than otherwise in the absence of the change in angular orientation. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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Specification