US Patent 7450243 Volumetric endoscopic coherence microscopy using a coherent fiber bundle

Methods for employing coherent bundles of optical fibers, whether single- or multi-mode, for optical coherence tomography or optical coherence microscopy. Either a substantially monochromatic source or a broadband source is spatially decohered and/or spatially filtered prior to coupling into the fiber bundle for illumination of a sample. A scatter signal from features disposed beneath the surface of the sample is interfered with a reference signal derived, at either end of the fiber bundle, from the identical source of illumination.