TY - JOUR T1 - Side-view holographic endomicroscopy via a custom-terminated multimode fibre JF - Opt. Express Y1 - 2021 A1 - Beatriz M. Silveira A1 - Tomáš Pikálek A1 - Miroslav Stibůrek A1 - Petra Ondráčková A1 - Petr Jákl A1 - Ivo T. Leite A1 - Tomáš Čižmár KW - KF KW - MF AB -

Microendoscopes based on optical fibres have recently come to the fore as promising candidates allowing in-vivo observations of otherwise inaccessible biological structures in animal models. Despite being still in its infancy, imaging can now be performed at the tip of a single multimode fibre, by relying on powerful holographic methods for light control. Fibre based endoscopy is commonly performed en face, resulting in possible damage of the specimen owing to the direct contact between the distal end of the probe and target. On this ground, we designed an all-fibre probe with an engineered termination that reduces compression and damage to the tissue under investigation upon probe insertion. The geometry of the termination brings the field of view to a plane parallel to the fibre&\#x2019;s longitudinal direction, conveying the probe with off-axis imaging capabilities. We show that its focusing ability also benefits from a higher numerical aperture, resulting in imaging with increased spatial resolution. The effect of probe insertion was investigated inside a tissue phantom comprising fluorescent particles suspended in agarose gel, and a comparison was established between the novel side-view probe and the standard en face fibre probe. This new concept paves the way to significantly less invasive deep-tissue imaging.

VL - 29 UR - http://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-29-15-23083 ER -