Fiber Illumination

Fiber Illumination for Microscopy

Due to their favorable characteristics, fiber optics find many applications within the medical community. Fiber optics display a variety of characteristics that make them useful in the medical field. They are insensitive to electromagnetic disturbances and are commonly small in size. Additionally, their ability to withstand high temperatures, strong electromagnetic fields like MRIs, and ionizing radiation make fiber optics the perfect medical tool. Lastly, optical fibers are nontoxic, chemically inert, and intrinsically safe and thus, are an ideal material to use in and near the human body.

The physical characteristics of fiber, such as its flexibility and light weight, make it ideal for many different medical applications. The main applications for fiber optics in the medical field are in small, compact instruments that assist physicians in performing surgeries or diagnosing patients.

One of the most prevalent applications of fiber optics in medicine are in the imaging and illumination components of endoscopes. The word endoscope is derived from the greek words skopein and endom, literally meaning to “view within”. The flexible, yet rigid multifibers enable visualization of internal organs and tissue via bodily orifices.

In surgical applications perfect illumination of the working area is extremely important. In surgical microscopes, the glass fibers are configured to suit various light guide designs for specific devices in order to provide the highest possible mechanical protection and high flexibility. LED head lights are small, light weight, and energy saving. The surgeons rely on LED light sources with extremely high light intensity.

Fiber optic microscope illuminator provides strong, even and cool daylight illumination. Optical fiber expands the application range of microscopy, enabling examination of hard-to-reach tissue in vivo. Fiber-optic microscopy is promising for very early cancer detection, surgical guidance, and as a complement to standard pathology. Fiber optics makes miniature microscopy more flexible.

Multi-spectral light fiber Illumination help to miniaturize confocal microscopes by using fiber optics to deliver light to the specimen and to measure either reflected or excited fluorescence light. A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances.