Endoscopic light guide and endoscope having the same

[0054][First Embodiment of Endoscopic Light Guide and Endoscope Having the Same]

[0055]An endoscopic light guide or an endoscope having the same according to the first embodiment is used for an endoscope shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is an external view of an endoscope system (rigid endoscope) which includes an endoscopic light guide (hereinafter, simply referred to as “light guide”) or an endoscope (rigid endoscope) having the endoscopic light guide according to the present embodiment.

(Rigid Endoscope System)

[0056]As illustrated in FIG. 1, rigid endoscope system 1 of the present embodiment includes light source device 2 for emitting white illumination light and / or excitation light, rigid endoscope 10 for guiding and illuminating the illumination light and / or excitation light emitted from light source device 2 to an observation area and capturing a visible image based on reflection light reflected, by illumination of the white light, from the observation area and / or a fluorescence image

[0124][Second Embodiment of Endoscopic Light Guide and Endoscope Having the Same]

[0125]An endoscopic light guide and an endoscope having the same according to a second embodiment will now be described. The endoscopic light guide and endoscope having the same according to the present embodiment have configurations substantially identical to those of the first embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the radiation mode inducing means is pressing member 64 for pressing the side face of an optical fiber in the vicinity of the output facet of the optical fiber to generate microbending. Therefore, components identical to those of the first embodiment will not be elaborated upon further here unless otherwise specifically required.

[0126]FIGS. 11A and 115 illustrate aspects in which a pressing member which is the radiation mode inducing means of the present embodiment is mounted on an optical fiber. FIG. 11A is a schematic view of the optical fiber as viewed f