An endomicroscope assembly comprising: a flexible tubing having a ferrule and single-mode optical fiber extending into the ferrule, the flexible tubing having a distal end positioned to emit an illumination beam provided when provided to the single-mode optical fiber; a compact scanning assembly mounted to the flexible tubing, the compact scanning assembly having a folded beam configuration to receive the illumination beam, to convert the illumination beam to a higher numerical aperture illumination beam, and to scan the higher numerical aperture illumination beam across a lateral sample region, the compact scanning assembly comprising: a rigid outer housing; a lateral scanning assembly fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing and adjacent the distal end of the flexible tubing, the lateral scanning assembly having a scanning mirror with an aperture aligned with the single mode fiber to receive the illumination beam into a folded beam path for converting to the higher numerical aperture illumination beam, the folded beam path being defined by the scanning mirror and a fixed mirror, the lateral scanning assembly having a comb filter drive for scanning the scanning mirror; a lens assembly (L2, L3, L4) fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing, the lens assembly positioned distally to the lateral scanning assembly to scan the higher numerical aperture illumination beam across the lateral sample region; and a spacer fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing and distally to the lateral scanning assembly, the spacer having spring members that fixedly suspend the fixed mirror. a flexible tubing having a ferrule and single-mode optical fiber extending into the ferrule, the flexible tubing having a distal end positioned to emit an illumination beam provided when provided to the single-mode optical fiber; a compact scanning assembly mounted to the flexible tubing, the compact scanning assembly having a folded beam configuration to receive the illumination beam, to convert the illumination beam to a higher numerical aperture illumination beam, and to scan the higher numerical aperture illumination beam across a lateral sample region, the compact scanning assembly comprising: a rigid outer housing; a lateral scanning assembly fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing and adjacent the distal end of the flexible tubing, the lateral scanning assembly having a scanning mirror with an aperture aligned with the single mode fiber to receive the illumination beam into a folded beam path for converting to the higher numerical aperture illumination beam, the folded beam path being defined by the scanning mirror and a fixed mirror, the lateral scanning assembly having a comb filter drive for scanning the scanning mirror; a lens assembly (L2, L3, L4) fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing, the lens assembly positioned distally to the lateral scanning assembly to scan the higher numerical aperture illumination beam across the lateral sample region; and a spacer fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing and distally to the lateral scanning assembly, the spacer having spring members that fixedly suspend the fixed mirror. a rigid outer housing; a lateral scanning assembly fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing and adjacent the distal end of the flexible tubing, the lateral scanning assembly having a scanning mirror with an aperture aligned with the single mode fiber to receive the illumination beam into a folded beam path for converting to the higher numerical aperture illumination beam, the folded beam path being defined by the scanning mirror and a fixed mirror, the lateral scanning assembly having a comb filter drive for scanning the scanning mirror; a lens assembly (L2, L3, L4) fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing, the lens assembly positioned distally to the lateral scanning assembly to scan the higher numerical aperture illumination beam across the lateral sample region; and a spacer fixedly positioned within the rigid outer housing and distally to the lateral scanning assembly, the spacer having spring members that fixedly suspend the fixed mirror.