Fiber-optical structure of high apparent power of resolution

Claim 1

A fiber-optical structure comprising: a pair of light-transmitting fiber bundles originating at a source of illuminating flux; a light-receiving fiber bundle bracketed by said light-transmitting fiber bundles for picking up reflected flux from an object illuminated by said light-transmitting fiber bundles, said light-receiving fiber bundle terminating at a receiver for the reflected flux, all said fiber bundles being of rectangular cross-section with coextensive contacting sides, said light-transmitting fiber bundles having ends remote from said source extending beyond an end of said light-receiving fiber bundle remote from said receiver for forming two opposite light-absorbing boundaries of a light-guiding channel traversed by the reflected flux, said remote end of said light-receiving fiber bundle being directly exposed to incident light; and a pair of parallel shield plates with light-absorbing surfaces overlying opposite sides of said fiber bundles transverse to said contacting sides and extending to said remote ends of said light-transmitting fiber bundles, thereby forming two other boundaries of said light-guiding channel.