The rolling bearing provides a first ring, a second ring and at least one row of rolling elements arranged therebetween. Each of the first and second rings include an inner bore having an outer surface and at least one raceway for the row of rolling elements formed on one of the inner bore and outer surface. The first ring provides at least one part ring delimiting the raceway, and at least one sleeve secured to the part ring and delimiting at least partly the other of the inner bore and outer surface of the first ring. The rolling bearing further provides at least one optical fiber sensor mounted inside at least one circumferential groove formed on the first ring and passing through at least one optical fiber sensor passage opening into the circumferential groove.

An optically powered system for rapid, focused heating and melting of water ice. The optical wavelength is chosen to fall in a range where transmissivity through liquid water is higher than through ice. An alternative embodiment of the invention further comprises a length of fiber optic tether between source and output to allow for motion of the melt head. A further embodiment includes probing the ice using various sensing modalities exploiting the presence of the fiber in the ice, searching for biomarkers and characterizing the radiation/light environment for subsurface habitability, including photosynthetic potential and radiation environment as a source for energy.

Multi-fiber laser probes utilize relative motion of fibers and other laser probe elements to preserve small-gauge compatibility while providing for multi-spot beam deliver, or to provide for the selectively delivery of single-spot or multi-spot beam patterns. An example probe includes fibers having distal ends that are movable as a group onto a distal ramp element affixed to a distal end of a cannula, so that the distal ends of the fibers can be moved between a retracted position, in which the distal ends of the fibers are within the cannula or ramp element, and an extended position, in which distal ends of the fibers are guided by grooves or channels of the ramp so as to extend at least partially through external openings in the distal end of the laser probe and so as to be pointed angularly away from a longitudinal axis of the cannula.

A tapered fiber optoacoustic emitter includes a nanosecond laser configured to emit laser pulses and an optic fiber. The optic fiber includes a tip configured to guide the laser pulses. The tip has a coating including a diffusion layer and a thermal expansion layer, wherein the diffusion layer includes epoxy and zinc oxide nanoparticles configured to diffuse the light while restricting localized heating. The thermal expansion layer includes carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) configured to convert the laser pulses to generate ultrasound. The frequency of the ultrasound is tuned with a thickness of the diffusion layer and a CNT concentration of the expansion layer.

An optical fiber inspection system may include an alignment guide having a sleeve portion and a mechanical key structure. The sleeve portion may comprise a first opening arranged to be proximal to one or more optical components in an inspection device and a second opening arranged to be distal to the one or more optical components when the alignment guide is removably engaged with the inspection device. The mechanical key structure may be located adjacent to the second opening and have a shape to engage a geometry of one or more recesses in a bulkhead. Accordingly, the alignment guide may stabilize the inspection device at a particular angle relative to an end face of an object in a field of view of the one or more optical components when a shaft of the inspection device is inserted into the bulkhead.

An optical shape sensing (OSS) system includes a launch fixture configured to receive and secure an optical fiber within a flexible OSS enabled instrument, where the launch fixture includes a docking interface; a launch fixture base configured to be connected to a support structure; and a docking device configured to secure the launch fixture onto the launch fixture base. The docking device includes a launch fixture slot passing through the docking device, and the launch fixture slot is configured to receive and secure the docking interface of the launch fixture through both a top side of the docking device and an opposing bottom side of the docking device.

Certain embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and devices for coupling optical fibers with laser surgical systems. In particular, certain aspects provide a push-pull connector and adapter for releasably coupling an optical fiber with a port of a laser surgical system. The connector and adapter facilitate mechanical lateral and rotational guidance of the optical fiber during insertion into the port to ensure proper alignment (e.g., clocking) of the optical fiber’s cores with a laser beam pattern propagated by the laser surgical system. Accordingly, the connector and adaptor enable improved coupling efficiency between the laser beam pattern and one or more cores of the optical fiber, and therefore improved power uniformity between multiple laser beams transmitted through the cores.

A bundled optical fiber probe according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a forward irradiation unit including a forward irradiation optical fiber disposed at the center thereof, the forward irradiation optical fiber having a flat end surface; and a side irradiation unit including a side irradiation optical fiber disposed at the periphery of the forward irradiation unit, the side irradiation optical fiber having an inclined end surface to laterally reflect a laser beam, wherein the forward irradiation unit and the side irradiation unit can be formed as a single bundle.

The present disclosure provides an apparatus for generating fiber delivered laser-induced dynamically controlled white light emission. The apparatus includes a laser diode unit for generating a laser electromagnetic radiation with a blue emission in a range from 395 nm to 490 nm that is delivered by an optical fiber. The apparatus further includes a dynamic phosphor unit configured to receive the laser exited from the optical fiber and controllably deflect a beam focused by a first optics sub-unit to a surface spot on a phosphor plate to produce a white light emission. Additionally, and the dynamic phosphor unit includes a second optics sub-unit configured to collect the white light emission and to project to a far field. Furthermore, the apparatus includes an electronics control unit comprising a laser diode driver and a MEMS driver for respectively control the laser diode unit and the dynamic phosphor unit in mutually synchronized manner.

An ophthalmic light instrument includes a plug (1) and a light guide (7) for guiding light (10) to a surgical site in the eye. The plug (1) is configured to be magnetically attractable or attractive and can be positioned and connected releasably with respect to a light source in such a way, that coupling of the light (10) into the light instrument takes place at the focal point (14) of the light source (12). An ophthalmic illumination system includes such a light instrument and a socket of the light source. The socket of the light source (4) is configured to be magnetically attractable or attractive and can be positioned and connected releasably with respect to the light source in such a way, that coupling of the light (10) into the light instrument takes place at the focal point (14) of the light source (12).