Advances towards fabricating dead-space free optical fiber bundle arrays for imaging

This thesis identifies, examines, and compares two fabrication approaches for combining multiple coherent optical fiber bundles into a single large imaging array. The aim is to minimise the area where the image is lost (dead-space) when using circular shaped bundles. Initial investigations considered using thermal fusing to controllably shift the micron sized cores within the assembled bundles into the dead-space. The second approach involved mechanical reshaping of the circular bundles into hexagons, to enable a closely packed assembly. Through both experimental and theoretical work, considerable advances and insights in achieving dead-space free fiber bundle arrays were gained.