A Design of a Liquid Crystal Based Single-Lens Stereo Endoscope

In this paper, we present a design of stereo endoscope based on a single liquid crystal lens. We first review the fundamentals of the optics of stereoscopic endoscope and argue that, due to limited physical size, dual-lens endoscopes usually compromise image quality with respect to depth resolution. To improve the depth resolution without increasing the endoscope dimensions, we propose a single-lens design that implements a voltage-controlled liquid crystal. The proposed endoscope utilizes a single optic system that collects the left view and right view sequentially in a switching manner. It is shown that at the same dimensions, the stereo disparity with the proposed design may be twice as much as that with the conventional dual-lens endoscopes. This leads to a much improved depth resolution and is particularly useful for 3D visualization applications that utilize ultra-small endoscopes, such as endoscopic brain surgery.