Widefield lensless endoscopy with a multicore fiber

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel widefield endoscopic imaging method using a multicore fiber that achieves real-time, pixelation-free 3D imaging without distal optics or proximal scanners, enabling high-speed video-rate imaging.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach for widefield endoscopy using aperiodic multicore fibers and memory effect, eliminating the need for distal optics and post-processing.

Findings

Real-time, pixelation-free imaging achieved

No distal opto-mechanical elements needed

Supports video-rate 3D imaging

Abstract

We demonstrate pixelation-free real-time widefield endoscopic imaging through an aperiodic multicore fiber (MCF) without any distal opto-mechanical elements or proximal scanners. Exploiting the memory effect in MCFs the images in our system are directly obtained without any post-processing using a static wavefront correction obtained from a single calibration procedure. Our approach allows for video-rate 3D widefield imaging of incoherently illuminated objects with imaging speed not limited by the wavefront shaping device refresh rate.