Light tunnel and lens which provide extended focal depth of at least one anatomical structure at a particular resolution

A probe for providing illumination of at least one sample, comprising:

• a first wave-guide substantially coaxially aligned with a second wave-guide,
• radiation being emitted from an end of the first wave-guide into the second wave-guide to (i) transform the radiation from the first wave-guide into a plurality of electro-magnetic radiations or a plurality of beams of different orders, and (ii) forward each of the plurality of electro-magnetic radiations or each of the plurality of beams of different orders to at least two lenses;
• and
• the at least two lenses configured to receive the plurality of electro-magnetic radiations or the plurality of beams of different orders from the first wave-guide and the second wave-guide and generate a focus-spot radiation which has a greater depth-of-focus than a diffraction-limited depth-of-focus.

A system for imaging at least one sample, comprising:

• a probe comprising a first wave-guide substantially coaxially aligned with a second wave-guide, the second waveguide converting electro-magnetic radiation emanating from the first wave-guide into a plurality of electro-magnetic radiations, the plurality of electro-magnetic radiations being emitted from an end of the second wave-guide forwarded to at least one lens;
• an interferometric arrangement provided in communication with the probe;
• and
• the at least one lens configured to receive the plurality of electro-magnetic radiations from the second wave-guide and generate a focus-spot radiation which has a greater depth-of-focus than a depth-of-focus from a single focused beam through the lens.

An apparatus comprising:

• a first wave-guide, a second wave-guide, a first lens, and a second lens optically coupled to one another and aligned along a single optical axis,
• an end of the first wave-guide comprising a spatially coherent source which emits electro-magnetic radiation toward the second wave-guide,
• the second wave-guide receiving the electro-magnetic radiation emitted from the spatially coherent source and emitting the electro-magnetic radiation toward the first lens,
• the second wave-guide transforming the electro-magnetic radiation to a plurality of beams of different orders,
• the first lens receiving the electro-magnetic radiation emitted from the second wave-guide and emitting the electromagnetic radiation toward the second lens, and
• the second lens receiving the electro-magnetic radiation emitted from the first lens and generating a focus-spot radiation which has a greater depth-of-focus than a depth-of-focus from a single focused beam through the lens.