Granted Patent B2

US 12,318,167 · App. 17/928,296 · Granted Jun 3, 2025

Inventors: Boy Braaf (Heidelberg, DE); Silke Aumann (Pfungstadt, DE); Björn Martensen (Lübeck, DE); Lisa Kutzner (Berlin, DE); Andreas Fritz (Lübeck, DE)

Assignee: Heidelberg Engineering GmbH

A61B5/0066A61B3/10

Abstract

Claims (23)

1. An assembly comprising:

first and second housings ( 9 ) ( 10 ); and

an interferometer for carrying out an optical coherence tomography,

wherein the interferometer is divided into two interferometer parts ( 1 , 2 ) at

a spatial distance from each other;

wherein the two interferometer parts ( 1 , 2 ) are movable relative to each other and are optically connected to each other by at least one flexible light guide ( 3 , 4 , 5 ) which bridges the spatial distance;

wherein the first housing ( 9 ) comprises:

the first interferometer part ( 1 ), comprising:

electronic components; and

a power supply unit ( 7 );

wherein the second housing ( 10 ) comprises:

the second interferometer part ( 2 ), comprising:

a camera head ( 8 ), comprising:

a sample arm ( 11 );

a reference arm ( 12 ); and

a plurality of single-mode fiber light guides leading to

the sample arm ( 11 ) and to the reference arm ( 12 );

wherein the at least one flexible light guide comprises a flexible light guide designed as a polarization-maintaining light guide which consists of two polarization-maintaining light-guiding fibers ( 3 a , 3 b ) connected to each other;

wherein the respective crystal axes of which are arranged tilted by 90° relative to each other.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the two polarization-maintaining light-guiding fibers ( 3 a , 3 b ) are connected to each other by splicing and/or are of equal length.

3. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one flexible light guide comprises one or more light guides designed as a single-mode fiber or as single-mode fibers.

4. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one flexible light guide is accommodated in a flexible hose cable ( 6 ) which extends between the two interferometer parts ( 1 , 2 ).

5. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sample arm ( 11 ) and the reference arm ( 12 ) are arranged in the camera head ( 8 ).

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (15)