Patent ID: 7881573

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: an optical coupler, the coupler comprising a first central body and a plurality of first optical fibers disposed about and extending longitudinally along the first central body, the first central body and the plurality of first optical fibers providing a first commonly beveled end; wherein the first optical fibers extend away from the first beveled end, the coupler configured to accept an elongated member configured for imaging within an object, the elongated member including a second central body and a plurality of second optical fibers disposed about and extending longitudinally along the second central body, the elongated member having a second commonly beveled end; wherein the coupler and the elongated member are configured to permit an end-user to insert a beveled end of the elongated member into the coupler, with the elongated member extending away from the second beveled end and the coupler, such that the second beveled end of the elongated member butts against and mates in end-user-provided contacting self-alignment to the first beveled end to couple light between the plurality of the first optical fibers and the contacting self-aligned plurality of the second optical fibers of the elongated member; and wherein the pluralities of the first and second optical fibers are cut, at their respective beveled ends, from a single optical fiber assembly comprising a central body and a plurality of optical fibers disposed about the central body, to permit the end-user-provided contacting self-alignment, wherein the plurality of first optical fibers are disposed about the central body in an encapsulation placement, wherein the encapsulation placement permits relative spatial variations in the placement of the first optical fibers along a length of the optical fiber assembly according to equipment or process variation of the encapsulation.