Scanning mechanisms for imaging probe

An imaging probe comprising:

• a hollow shaft;
• a rotatable conduit extending through said hollow shaft, said rotatable conduit defining a longitudinal axis, wherein said rotatable conduit is connectable to a rotational drive mechanism for adjusting an angular velocity of said rotatable conduit about said longitudinal axis;
• an imaging assembly attached to said rotatable conduit at a location remote from a proximal end of said rotatable conduit, said rotatable conduit being configured to deliver energy to said imaging assembly, said imaging assembly including a movable member for delivering an energy beam along an energy beam path from said movable member out of said hollow shaft at a variable imaging angle with respect to said longitudinal axis of said rotatable conduit, wherein said movable member is mounted so that the variable imaging angle between the energy beam path and said longitudinal axis of said rotatable conduit is varied by adjusting the angular velocity of said rotatable conduit;
• and
• a restoring mechanism associated with said movable member for orienting said movable member in an orientation relative to said rotatable conduit that corresponds to an original imaging angle absent rotation of said rotatable conduit and for urging said movable member toward the orientation relative to said rotatable conduit that corresponds to the original imaging angle.