Patent ID: 8343044

Claim:
A light guide for endoscopes constituted by a plurality of multimode optical fibers, of which at least a portion is bundled, for propagating an illuminating light beam that enters from a first end facet thereof to a second end facet thereof, to emit the illuminating light beam onto a portion to be observed; the light guide comprising: a light input portion formed by the bundled plurality of multimode optical fibers; and a light output portion formed by the bundled plurality of multimode optical fibers; the light input portion and the light output portion being tapered to become narrower toward its respective end facet, while the number of multimode optical fibers at the light input portion and the light output portion are the same as that at other portions of the light guide; and the ends of each of the multimode optical fibers are also tapered at the light input portion and the light output portion.