Spectrally Encoded Nonscanning Imaging through a Fiber

Abstract

Recent advancements in neuroimaging and microsurgery have sparked an increasing demand to capture images with miniaturized optical probes such as optical fibers. In this work, we present an approach to acquire images through a single fiber without the need for mechanical scanning. At the distal end of the fiber, a metasurface filter array encodes spatial information into a highly orthogonal spectrum. At the proximal end, the object can then be computationally recovered via the pseudo inverse of the encoding process. We demonstrate captures of a 4 × 4 binary object at the proximity of the spectral filter array using a 560−625 nm wavelength band. The recovered image maintains an error rate of <11% when measured using a spectrometer with a spectral resolution of 1.5 nm. Importantly, this modality remains unchanged as the fiber is bent or moved. Thus, our approach shows a robust way to image through a single optical fiber, with potential applications in compact endoscopes and angioscopes.