Grant: Idea to Innovation

Optical fibres enable imaging and remote sensing in tight spaces. Modern endoscopes, enabling imaging inside the body, can be fabricated with a single optical fibre having a diameter of one-eighth of a millimeter, thinner than a hair. Such single-fibre endoscopes can fit into a surgical needle and be inserted in biological tissue. They even fit through arteries, enabling imaging inside the beating heart of patients. Even though optical fibres are very small, they currently exploit only a diameter of a few micrometers to guide light. Using the whole surface of the fibre allows collecting up to a hundred times more light from the biological tissue, generating better images and enabling the detection of specific tissue types. Our technology enables the efficient injection of laser light for illumination and efficient extraction of back-scattered light for image reconstruction and material identification. It dramatically improves single-fibre endoscopes, giving new tools to clinicians for diagnostics and therapeutics. The technology consists in optical fibre couplers, components made by fusing together specially designed fibres, forming optical circuits with the desired functionality. Different versions are being developed for specific applications such as cardiology, ophtalmology, laser surgery and numerous others. Our long-term goal is for clinicians to have instruments enabling them to diagnose ailments without invasive surgery, even destroy suspicious tissue with laser light, all this through a tiny optical fibre.