Variable transmittance optical element and imaging optical system including the same arranged at distal end of an endoscope

1. A variable transmittance optical element that is provided in an imaging optical system of an endoscope, said variable transmittance optical element comprising:

small etalons that have an effective part that allows passage of a light beam received at a unit light receiving area that corresponds to an individual pixel, or a plurality of pixels, of an image pickup device that is provided in the imaging optical system of the endoscope; each of said small etalons having facing surfaces that are arranged so as to be parallel to one another on a transparent substrate; and

said transparent substrate and an image pickup surface of the image pickup device are positioned so that each of the small etalons allows passage of the light beam to said unit light receiving area.

2. The variable transmittance optical element according to claim 1 , wherein:

said small etalons are formed by facing substrates having a size on the order of several μm, and a substrate that is farther away from the image pickup surface of the image pickup device has a larger effective part than a substrate that is closer to the image pickup surface of the image pickup device.

3. A variable transmittance optical element that is provided in the imaging optical system of an endoscope, wherein:

said variable transmittance optical element includes multiple microscopic mirrors that have an effective part that allows passage of a light beam that is received at a unit light receiving area corresponding to an individual pixel, or a plurality of pixels, of an image pickup device that is provided in the imaging optical system of the endoscope and said multiple microscopic mirrors are arranged on the facing surfaces of two transparent substrates; and

at least one of the transparent substrates is moved so as to change the mutual distance between the facing microscopic mirrors.

4. The variable transmittance optical element according to claim 3 , wherein:

the mutual distance between the facing microscopic mirrors increases from the center to the periphery of the variable transmittance optical element.

5. An endoscope imaging unit; wherein

an objective lens and a variable transmittance optical element are provided;

said variable transmittance optical element includes small etalons that have an effective part that allows passage of a light beam that is received at a unit light receiving area that corresponds to an individual pixel, or a plurality of pixels, of an image pickup device that is provided in the imaging optical system of an endoscope, said small etalons being arranged on a transparent substrate; and

said transparent substrate and an image pickup surface of the image pickup device are positioned so that each of the small etalons allows passage of the light beam to said unit light receiving area.

6. The endoscope imaging unit according to claim 5 , wherein:

said small etalons include small etalons ET 1 having a variable peak transmittance wavelength in the wavelength range of 400 nm-600 nm and small etalons ET 2 having a variable peak transmittance wavelength in the wavelength range of 600 nm-800 nm; and

images formed by pixels using light which has transmitted through small etalons ET 1 and images formed by pixels using light which has transmitted through small etalons ET 2 are separately obtained.

7. The endoscope imaging unit according to claim 5 , wherein:

said image pickup surface of the image pickup device is divided into multiple image pickup areas;

each image pickup area is provided with an objective lens; and

said small etalons are controlled for each image pickup area.

8. The endoscope imaging unit according to claim 7 , wherein the fields of view of the objective lenses overlap.

9. The endoscope imaging unit according to claim 7 , wherein:

of the multiple image pickup areas, at least one image pickup area is provided with light that has transmitted through small etalons ET 1 , each small etalon ET 1 having a variable peak transmittance wavelength in the wavelength range of 400 nm-600 nm; and

the other image pickup areas are provided with small etalons ET 2 , each small etalon ET 2 having a variable peak transmittance wavelength in the wavelength range of 600 nm-800 nm; and

images formed at the respective image pickup areas are separately obtained.