The team at Miniprobes design and build a range of exquisitely small imaging probes for optical coherence tomography (OCT). Our imaging needles consist of a highly miniaturised fibre-optic probe inside a hypodermic needle, able to scan deep inside the body. Our small pen scanners consist of a scanning fibre probe able to image over a 5mm field of view.

We also develop imaging probes for custom applications.  Our integrated needle handpiece contains a fully-functioning OCT interferometer, allowing the imaging needle to be connected to a range of OCT scanners. For details, please contact us.

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Optical Design

Our probes use an all-fiber optical design, fusing together small lengths of no-core and GRIN fiber to shape the light beam. Each piece of fiber is only a few hundred microns in length.

Scolaro et al., “High-sensitivity anastigmatic imaging needle for optical coherence tomography,” Optics Letters, 37(24):5247-5249, 2012


Applications

New smart needle to make brain surgery safer.

We are working closely with The University of Adelaide to develop a smart brain biopsy needle. In an in vivo human trial, the smart brain biopsy needle was shown to be able to detect blood vessels, making brain surgery safer. Details of the study have been published in Science Advances.

Ramakonar et al., “Intraoperative detection of blood vessels with an imaging needle during neurosurgery in humans,” Science Advances, 4(eaav4992), 2018.