Patent ID: 7366365
Filing Date: 2008-04-29
Classification: A61B,G01N

Abstract:
1. A system for multispectral confocal mapping of a tissue, comprising: a light source providing emissions; an optical fiber having a first end optically coupled to receive the emissions and a second end having an aperture providing a confocal pinhole, a scanner being free-space coupled to said aperture, said scanner operative to scan the tissue and provide intensity signals for each of a plurality of points therein, wherein said optical fiber receives the intensity signals at said aperture and propagates said intensity signals to said first end; a switch or modulator optically coupled to said first end of said optical fiber and operative to convert said intensity signals to optical pulses; a reflector optically coupled to receive the optical pulses and provide a temporal sequence of wavelength selective reflections of the optical pulses; and, a detector optically coupled to receive the temporal sequence of wavelength selective reflections and provide an output suitable for populating a data cube indicative of the relative intensity of each point in the scanned tissue.