An Electro-Thermal Actuation Method for Resonance Vibration of a Miniaturized Optical-Fiber Scanner for Future Scanning Fiber Endoscope Design

Abstract

Medical professionals increasingly rely on endoscopes to carry out many minimally invasive procedures on patients to safely examine, diagnose, and treat a large variety of conditions. However, their insertion tube diameter dictates which passages of the body they can be inserted into and, consequently, what organs they can access. For inaccessible areas and organs, patients often undergo invasive and risky procedures—diagnostic confirmation of peripheral lung nodules via transthoracic needle biopsy is one example from oncology. Hence, this work sets out to present an optical-fiber scanner for a scanning fiber endoscope design that has an insertion tube diameter of about 0.5 mm, small enough to be inserted into the smallest airways of the lung. To attain this goal, a novel approach based on resonance thermal excitation of a single-mode 0.01-mm-diameter fiber-optic cantilever oscillating at 2–4 kHz is proposed. The small size of the electro-thermal actuator enables miniaturization of the insertion tube. Lateral free-end deflection of the cantilever is used as a benchmark for evaluating performance. Experimental results show that the cantilever can achieve over 0.2 mm of displacement at its free end. The experimental results also support finite element simulation models which can be used for future design iterations of the endoscope.