OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR COUPLING LIGHT FROM A SINGLE FIBER OPTIC INTO A FIBER BUNDLE

摘要

The optical coupler couples light output from the single fiber optic into the fiber optic bundle while preserving the numerical aperture of the beam output from the single fiber optic. The optical coupler also preserves any uniformity in the beam output from the single fiber optic. The optical coupler includes a collimating device such as a magnifiying lens and a diffusing device such as a hemispherical lens array. The collimating device collimates the beam output from the single fiber optic into a parallel beam having a diameter substantially equal to a diameter of the fiber optic bundle. The diffuser device diverges the collimated beam for input into the fiber optic bundle by an amount sufficient to reproduce the numerical aperture of light output from the single fiber optic. A wide variety of optical diffuser devices are disclosed, including spherical convex lens arrays, cylindrical lens arrays, pyramidal lens arrays and fresnel lenses. In one exemplary embodiment, the optical coupler is employed within a medical illumination system which transmits light from a high-intensity light source to a medical device such as a surgical headlamp, or medical endoscope or boroscope.