Pre-fabricated, on-demand interface for use in providing optical coupling between disposable and reuseable members of a fiber-optic probe

Abstract

A pre-fabricated, on-demand interface provides optical coupling between disposable and reusable portions of a fiber-optic probe. The interface uses a pre-cured, compressible optically-transmissive gel in a cavity of the disposable portion, which can be a disposable insertion tip of the fiber optic probe. The disposable portion includes an elongated housing, or sheath, and the cavity is located within and proximal of a distal end of the elongated housing. A proximal end of an optical assembly of the disposable portion is located within the cavity and contacts the gel. A first coupling, provided at a proximal end of the elongated housing, detachably couples to a mating, second coupling of the probe reusable portion. When the disposable and reusable portions are coupled together, the gel is compressed between the proximal end of the optical assembly of the disposable portion and a distal optical member of an optical assembly of the reusable portion.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.