<title>Statistical evaluation of fiber bundle imagery of wavelength multiplexing</title>

Abstract

The effects of the wavelength multiplexing on the quality of an image transferred through a fiber bundle system is discussed by using the information capacity of an imaging system. The image transfer through a conventional fiber bundle can be thought of as a discrete sampling of the illuminance of the image at the entrance and of the bundle by each fiber element. This discrete sampling limits the band width of signals which can be transmitted. Also, the ends of the component fibers form an obtrusive pattern in the received image. Because, in the dispersion fiber bundle system, each fiber integrates the flux falling upon its entrance aperture, the entire picture format dispersion scan is reproduced at the frequency response characteristic of a uniform disk whose diameter is equal to that of the component fibers. Also, the individual fiber ends are thus blurred out and the obtrusive pattern formed by them is destroyed. It is shown, in theory, that the use of a dispersion method makes it possible to reduce the value of the light transmission nonuniformity contrast and to improve the resolution of fiber bundle image system, respectively.