Probe and optical tomography system

Abstract

An optical fiber is disposed in the direction of axis of the outer envelope inside a tubular outer envelope. Light emitted from the front end of the optical fiber is collected and projected on a body-to-be-scanned disposed externally of the outer envelope, and converged on the body-to-be-scanned. The outer envelope is filled with liquid so that the optical fiber is in the liquid.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view partly cutaway showing an optical probe in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an optical tomographic system to which the optical probe of FIG. 1 is applied,

FIG. 3 is a side view partly cutaway showing an optical probe in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention,

FIGS. 4A to 4C are side views partly cutaway showing an optical probes in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention and modification thereof,

FIG. 5 is a side view partly cutaway showing an optical probe in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 6 is a side view partly cutaway showing an optical probe in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing an example of the optical tomography system by the SD-OCT measurement to which the optical probe of the present invention is applied,

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing an example of the optical tomography system by the SS-OCT measurement to which the optical probe of the present invention is applied, and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an example of the optical tomography system by the TD-OCT measurement to which the optical probe of the present invention is applied.

Claims

1. An optical probe comprising a tubular outer envelope,an optical fiber which is disposed in the direction of axis of the outer envelope inside the outer envelope,a light projecting means which collects light emitted from the front end of the optical fiber and projects it on a body-to-be-scanned disposed externally of the outer envelope, anda partition member which partitions the space between the outer envelope and the optical fiber and between the outer envelope and the light projecting means into an optical-path-area including the optical path of the light emanating from the light projecting means, and a non-optical-path-area, a liquid layer being formed in the non-optical-path-area.

2. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 in which gas is filled in the optical-path-area.

3. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 in which a liquid having a high transmittance to the wavelength of the light is filled in the optical-path-area.

4. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 in which the partition member closely encloses the optical fiber and the liquid layer is formed by filling liquid in the partition member.

5. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 in which an optical fiber holding portion for holding the optical member is provided between the outer envelope and the fiber.

6. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 in which the optical fiber is coated with a coating member.

7. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 further comprising a pressure regulator which regulates the pressure of the liquid to be substantially constant.

8. An optical probe as defined in claim 1 further comprising a temperature regulator which regulates the temperature of the liquid to be substantially constant.

9. An optical tomography system comprising a light source which emits light,a light dividing means which divides light emitted from the light source into measuring light and reference light,a projecting optical system which projects the measuring light onto the object,a combining means which combines the reflected light from the object when the measuring light is projected onto the object and the reference light,an interference light detecting means which detects interference light of the reflected light and the reference light which have been combined by the combining means, anda tomographic image obtaining means which detects intensities of the interference light in positions in the direction of depth of the object and obtains a tomographic image of the object on the basis of the intensity of the reflected light in each position of the depth,wherein the improvement comprises that the projecting optical system includes an optical probe as defined in claim 1.