Multimode Optical Fiber as Imaging Probe

A proposed electro-optical image-processing system would enable remote viewing of an object through a multimode optical fiber, as though the fiber were a conventional image-transmitting optic like a lens or prism. Ordinarily, it would be impractical to use a multimode optical fiber as an imaging probe or imaging optic because image information would become distorted (scrambled) during propagation along the fiber. The proposed system would provide compensation for this scrambling. Fiber-optic imaging probes of this type could be made very thin and could be particularly useful as minimally invasive probes in medical diagnosis.