DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COHERENT INTEGRATED FIBEROPTIC IMAGINGPROBES

An integrated fiber-optic probe comprising a short length of multimode fiber that is fusion spliced to a monomode optical fiber has been fab ricated for imaging and nonimaging applications. The fiber probe, typi cally 250 mum in diameter, can deliver a focused Gaussian spot approxi mately 25 mum in diameter at a distance of approximately 500 mum from the tip. Two off-the-shelf graded-index multimode fibers have been use d in the fabrication of imaging and nonimaging probes. These integrate d probes have considerably improved the spatial resolution of backscat ter lensless fiber probes being utilized in the dynamic light-scatteri ng characterization of colloidal suspension.