Patent · US Active

Illumination arrangement, beam combination device and method for coupling at least three input light beams into an optical waveguide

US10151915B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by

4References

13Claims

0Family size

Assignees

KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG · DE
GRINTECH GmbH · DE

Inventors

Andre Ehrhardt · Tuttlingen, DE
Werner Goebel · Veitshöchheim, DE
Bernhard Messerschmidt · Jena, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Sep 26, 2016
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018
Priority date	—
Expiry date	May 3, 2037

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG02B27/30
WIPO fieldOptics
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An illumination arrangement according to the invention, in particular for an endoscope, comprises at least three light sources for generating a respective input light beam, and a beam combination device (5, 21), wherein the beam combination device (5, 21) comprises at least two beam splitters for combining the at least three input light beams to form an output light beam, at least three collimator lenses (7, 8, 9) embodied as GRIN lenses and serving for collimating and coupling a respective one of the input light beams into one of the beam splitters, and at least one further GRIN lens for coupling the output light beam into an optical waveguide. The invention also relates to a beam combination device and a method for coupling at least three input light beams into an optical waveguide, in particular into an optical waveguide of an endoscope.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.