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Géraud Bouwmans

Publications and source records attributed to Géraud Bouwmans.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2022

Tapered multi-core fiber for lensless endoscopes

We present a novel fiber-optic component, a "tapered multi-core fiber (MCF)", designed for integration into ultra-miniaturized endoscopes for minimally invasive two-photon point-scanning imaging and to address the power delivery issue that has faced MCF based lensless endoscopes. With it we achieve experimentally a factor 6.0 increase in two-photon signal yield while keeping the ability to point-scan by the memory effect, and a factor 8.9 sacrificing the memory effect. To reach this optimal design we first develop and validate a fast numerical model capable of predicting the essential properties of an arbitrarily tapered MCF from its structural parameters. We then use this model to identify the tapered MCF design parameters that result in a chosen set of target properties (point-spread function, delivered power, presence or absence of memory effect). We fabricate the identified target designs by stack-and-draw and post-processing on a CO$_{2}$ laser-based glass processing and splicing system. Finally we demonstrate the performance gain of the fabricated tapered MCFs in two-photon imaging when used in a lensless endoscope system. Our results show that tailoring of the taper profile brings new degrees of freedom that can be efficiently exploited for lensless endoscopes.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2019

Flexible lensless endoscope with a conformationally invariant multi-core fiber

The lensless endoscope represents the ultimate limit in miniaturization of imaging tools: an image can be transmitted through a (multi-mode or multi-core) fiber by numerical or physical inversion of the fiber's pre-measured transmission matrix. However, the transmission matrix changes completely with only minute conformational changes of the fiber, which has so far limited lensless endoscopes to fibers that must be kept static. In this letter we report for the first time a lensless endoscope which is exempt from the requirement of static fiber by designing and employing a custom-designed conformationally invariant fiber. We give experimental and theoretical validations and determine the parameter space over which the invariance is maintained.

physics.app-ph↗
arXiv2018

Nonlinear imaging through a golden spiral multicore fiber

We report two-photon lensless imaging through a novel golden spiral multicore fiber. This unique layout optimizes the sidelobe levels, field of view, cross-talk, group delay and mode density to achieve a sidelobe contrast of atleast 10.9 dB. We demonstrate experimentally the ability to generate and scan a focal point with a femtosecond pulse and perform two-photon imaging.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2016

Widefield lensless endoscopy with a multicore fiber

We demonstrate pixelation-free real-time widefield endoscopic imaging through an aperiodic multicore fiber (MCF) without any distal opto-mechanical elements or proximal scanners. Exploiting the memory effect in MCFs the images in our system are directly obtained without any post-processing using a static wavefront correction obtained from a single calibration procedure. Our approach allows for video-rate 3D widefield imaging of incoherently illuminated objects with imaging speed not limited by the wavefront shaping device refresh rate.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2016

Extended field-of-view in a lensless endoscope using an aperiodic multicore fiber

We investigate lensless endoscopy using coherent beam combining and aperiodic multicore fibers (MCF). We show that diffracted orders, inherent to MCF with periodically arranged cores, dramatically reduce the field of view (FoV) and that randomness in MCF core positions can increase the FoV up to the diffraction limit set by a single fiber core, while maintaining MCF experimental feasibility. We demonstrate experimentally pixelation-free lensless endoscopy imaging over a 120 micron FoV with an aperiodic MCF designed with widely spaced cores. We show that this system is suitable to perform beam scanning imaging by simply applying a tilt to the proximal wavefront.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2016

Single shot polarimetry imaging of multicore fiber

We report an experimental test of single-shot polarimetry applied to the problem of real-time monitoring of the output polarization states in each core within a multicore fiber bundle. The technique uses a stress-engineered optical element together with an analyzer and provides a point spread function whose shape unambiguously reveals the polarization state of a point source. We implement this technique to monitor, simultaneously and in real time, the output polarization states of up to 180 single mode fiber cores in both conventional and polarization-maintaining bundles. We demonstrate also that the technique can be used to fully characterize the polarization properties of each individual ber core including eigen-polarization states, phase delay and diattenuation.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2015

Ultra-thin rigid endoscope: Two-photon imaging through a graded-index multi-mode fiber

Rigid endoscopes like graded-index (GRIN) lenses are known tools in biological imaging, but it is conceptually difficult to miniaturize them. In this letter, we demonstrate an ultra-thin rigid endoscope with a diameter of only 125 microns. In addition, we identify a domain where two-photon endoscopic imaging with fs-pulse excitation is possible. We validate the ultra-thin rigid endoscope consisting of a few cm of graded-index multi-mode fiber by using it to acquire optically sectioned two-photon fluorescence endoscopic images of three-dimensional samples.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2012

Simple Method for Measuring the Zero-Dispersion Wavelength in Optical Fibers

We propose a very simple method for measuring the zero-dispersion wavelength of an optical fiber as well as the ratio between the third- and fourth-order dispersion terms. The method is based on the four wave mixing process when pumping the fiber in the normal dispersion region, and only requires the measurement of two spectra, provided that a source tunable near the zero-dispersion wavelength is available. We provide an experimental demonstration of the method in a photonic crystal fiber and we show that the measured zero-dispersion wavelength is in good agreement with a low-coherence interferometry measurement.

physics.optics↗