System for multispectral imaging of fluorescence

Abstract

A confocal scanning system for the multispectral imaging of fluorescence from a tissue sample based on time domain mapping of spectral components of the fluorescence using coated fiber tips disposed on multimode optical fibers. A fiber grating spectrometer based on two serial arrays of coated fiber tips disposed on multi-mode fiber, and delay lines between them provide spectral slices of the florescence. The coated fiber tips are arranged such that the shortest wavelength spectral components are reflected first and the longest wavelength components last. Fiber-based delay lines delay the reflections from each successive fiber tip such that they are uniformly separated in time, and in the order of its spectral wavelength number. The spectral bins are used to colorize the images to show the presence of abnormal tissue at cellular spatial resolution. A second scan with increased laser flux can destroy the diseased tissue revealed by the first scan.