JP2691736B2 - Image guide device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image guide device including a large number of optical fibers and directly transmitting an image.

(Prior Art) A conventional image guide does not have an amplification function.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) Therefore, the image is attenuated inside the image guide,
If the transmission distance is long, the brightness and sharpness of the image will decrease,
Image quality is degraded.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the image guide device of the present invention comprises a large number of optical fibers each of which constitutes a pixel, and the core of each optical fiber is doped with at least one kind of rare earth element. The image guide main body is provided with an excitation light source for irradiating the image guide main body with excitation light.

(Operation) By irradiating the image guide main body with excitation light from the excitation light source, due to the inversion distribution of rare earth elements due to the excitation light and the stimulated emission by the transmitted light inside the many rare earth element-doped fibers constituting the image guide main body. The transmitted light is amplified by the amplification action. That is, each pixel of the transmitted image is amplified, and the image can be sharpened.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image guide scope using an image guide device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Is an objective part provided with an objective lens, and this objective part 1 is arranged to face an object 2 to which an image is to be transmitted. The objective section 1 is connected to one end of a normal image guide 3 composed of a large number of optical fibers, and the other end of the image guide 3 having no amplification function is connected to one end of an image guide body 5 via a connector 4. Has been done. This image guide body 5
Consists of a large number of optical fibers, and the core of each optical fiber is doped with one kind of rare earth element such as neodymium (Nd), erbium (Er), and holmium (Ho).
An eyepiece section 6 having an eyepiece lens is connected to the other end of the image guide body 5, and the optical fiber of the image guide body 5 is irradiated with excitation light composed of white light around the image guide body 5. The rare earth element light sources 7 are arranged at appropriate intervals. The image guide body 5 and the excitation light source 7 constitute an image guide device 8.

Next, the operation will be described. The reflected light from the object 2 is input to the image guide 3 via the objective unit 1, is transmitted for each pixel by a large number of optical fibers forming the image guide 3, and is attenuated during the transmission. Although the loss of the optical fiber is relatively small, the loss increases with the distance. Therefore, when the distance of the image guide 3 is long, the attenuation of each pixel is large, which causes deterioration of the image quality. The transmitted light that has passed through the image guide 3 and is attenuated is input to the image guide main body 5 via the connector 4, is transmitted for each pixel by a large number of optical fibers forming the image guide main body 5, and is amplified during transmission. It That is, since the cores of a large number of optical fibers forming the image guide main body 5 are doped with a rare earth element, the rare earth element is inverted and distributed by the excitation light from the excitation light source 7, and this is stimulated and emitted by the transmitted light. This results in the transmitted light being amplified. Therefore, the transmitted light output from the eyepiece unit 6 does not deteriorate due to transmission,
High brightness and sharpness, and excellent image quality.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiments, an example in which the core of each optical fiber is doped with one kind of rare earth element has been described as the image guide body 5, but a plurality of cores of each optical fiber are used. The rare earth element-doped image guide body 5 may be used, and in this way, a plurality of frequency bands corresponding to the respective rare earth elements can be amplified.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the excitation light source 7 that outputs white light as the excitation light is used, but one or a plurality of wavelengths of one or a plurality of wavelengths corresponding to the rare earth element doped in the core of each optical fiber of the image guide body 5 is used. An excitation light source 7 that outputs light may be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the normal image guide 3
Although an example in which the image guide device 8 of the present invention is connected and used has been described, the image guide device 8 may be used alone to transmit an image without being connected to the image guide 3.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, an image guide main body is formed of a large number of optical fibers each of which constitutes a pixel, and the core of each optical fiber is doped with at least one rare earth element. Since the image guide body is provided with the excitation light source for irradiating the excitation light, the transmitted light can be amplified while the transmitted light passes through the image guide body, so that the image is not deteriorated even if the transmission distance is long, It is possible to realize high brightness and sharpness of an image and obtain a high quality image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image guide scope using an image guide device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 ... Image guide body, 7 ... Excitation light source, 8 ... Image guide device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Masataka Nakazawa, 1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Within Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Yasuro Kimura 1-1-6, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image guide body comprising a plurality of optical fibers each of which constitutes a pixel, and a core of each optical fiber is doped with at least one rare earth element, and an excitation light source for irradiating the image guide body with excitation light. An image guide device characterized by being provided with.