Endoscope for imaging infrared emissions within the range of 2 to 14 microns

摘要

Endodiagnostic apparatus and methods by which infrared emissions of 2 micrometers and above may be visualized in the form of encoded images to permit differential analysis. The endoscopic apparatus comprises a refractive objective lens for forming a real image of interior structure of interest, a relay system consisting solely of refractive elements for transferring the real image to an intermediate plane conjugate to the objective image plane, a refracting coupling lens for forming a final image of the intermediate image in a detector plane in which an IR detector sensitive in the range of 2 micrometers and greater may be placed near the proximal end of the apparatus, and a warm stop for ameliorating the effects of stray IR radiation in the system.