Endoscope probes and systems, and methods for use therewith

A probe comprising:

• a light guiding component,
• a light focusing component,
• a rotational element, and
• a grating configuration that comprises at least three spectrally dispersive grating patterns located on at least three facets of a pyramid, wherein bands of spectrally dispersed light propagating from the at last three spectrally dispersive grating patterns propagate on different planes and are incident on a sample at different spatial positions.

A method of fabricating an illumination unit, the method comprising:

• polishing a light focusing component;
• splicing the light focusing component and a light guiding component;
• polishing a distal end of the light focusing component or a distal end of a spacer attached to the distal end of the light focusing component to create a plurality of pyramidal surfaces defining a pyramid structure;
• patterning a plurality of gratings onto at least a portion of the plurality of pyramidal surfaces;
• and
• curing the patterned gratings.

A method of fabricating an illumination unit, the method comprising:

• polishing a first light focusing component;
• splicing the first light focusing component and a first light guiding component;
• polishing a distal end of the first light focusing component to create an angled surface;
• patterning one or more gratings onto the angled surface;
• curing the patterned one or more gratings to create a first fiber grating unit;
• repeating the polishing, splicing, polishing, patterning, and curing steps to create a second fiber grating unit and a third fiber grating unit;
• bundling the first, second, and third fiber grating units to form a pyramidal shaped illumination unit.