Optical probe and optical tomography apparatus

An elongated optical probe to be inserted into a tube which is open at a distal end portion of an insertion section of an endoscope, the probe comprising:

• a sheath constituting the outer circumferential surface of the optical probe;
• an optical fiber laid in the internal space of the sheath along the longitudinal direction thereof;
• a deflection scanning means disposed in the internal space of the sheath to deflect light outputted from the optical fiber, and is rotated around an axis line extending in the longitudinal direction to scan the deflected light in a circumferential direction of the axis line;
• and
• a plurality of light transmission sections provided on a side wall of the sheath along the circumferential direction and transmits the scanning light,
• wherein the outer shape of the sheath in cross-section which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and including the light transmission sections is substantially an ellipsoid.

An optical tomography apparatus, comprising:

• a light source that emits light;
• a light splitting means that splits light emitted from the light source into measuring light and reference light;
• an irradiation optical system that irradiates the measuring light on a measuring object;
• a light combining means that combines reflection light from the measuring object when the measuring light is irradiated thereon with the reference light;
• an interference light detection means that detects interference light of the combined reflection and reference light;
• and
• an image obtaining means that detects an intensity of reflection light from each of a plurality of depth positions of the measuring object based on the frequency and intensity of the detected interference light, and obtains a tomography image of the measuring object based on the intensity of the reflection light from each of the depth positions,
• wherein the irradiation optical system includes an elongated optical probe to be inserted into a tube which is open at a distal end portion of an insertion section of an endoscope, the optical probe including:
• a sheath constituting the outer circumferential surface of the optical probe;
• an optical fiber laid in the internal space of the sheath along the longitudinal direction thereof;
• a deflection scanning means disposed in the internal space of the sheath to deflect light outputted from the optical fiber, and is rotated around an axis line extending in the longitudinal direction to scan the deflected light in a circumferential direction of the axis line;
• and
• a plurality of light transmission sections for transmitting the scanning light, each formed flat on the outer surface, provided on a side wall of the sheath along the circumferential direction.

An optical tomography apparatus, comprising:

• a light source that emits light;
• a light splitting means that splits light emitted from the light source into measuring light and reference light;
• an irradiation optical system that irradiates the measuring light on a measuring object;
• a light combining means that combines reflection light from the measuring object when the measuring light is irradiated thereon with the reference light;
• an interference light detection means that detects interference light of the combined reflection and reference light;
• and
• an image obtaining means that detects an intensity of reflection light from each of a plurality of depth positions of the measuring object based on the frequency and intensity of the detected interference light, and obtains a tomography image of the measuring object based on the intensity of the reflection light from each of the depth positions,
• wherein the irradiation optical system includes an elongated optical probe to be inserted into a tube which is open at a distal end portion of an insertion section of an endoscope, the optical probe including:
• a sheath constituting the outer circumferential surface of the optical probe;
• an optical fiber laid in the internal space of the sheath along the longitudinal direction thereof;
• a deflection scanning means disposed in the internal space of the sheath to deflect light outputted from the optical fiber, and is rotated around an axis line extending in the longitudinal direction to scan the deflected light in a circumferential direction of the axis line;
• and
• a plurality of light transmission sections provided on a side wall of the sheath along the circumferential direction and transmits the scanning light, and wherein
• the outer shape of the sheath in cross-section which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and including the light transmission sections is substantially an ellipsoid.