Abstract: A biopsy needle has a cylindrical shell outer cannula and a stylet consisting of an inner stylet and outer stylet, both of which are inserted into the cylindrical cannula. The outer stylet has a series of strain relieved slits which provide bending over a deflection region in one direction, and the outer stylet is formed from a material such as a shape memory alloy (SMA) having a superelastic phase. The deflection is generated by an SMA wire spanning a deflection extent and attached to the outer stylet on either side of the deflection extent. The inner stylet, when positioned inside the outer stylet, has one or more actuation fibers which couple optical energy into the SMA wire, causing a deflection of the outer stylet over the deflection extent, with the optical energy provided to the actuation fibers for control of the deflection. Additional fibers may be placed in the inner stylet to measure temperature and to measure deflection.

Abstract: A biopsy needle has a cylindrical shell outer cannula and a stylet consisting of an inner stylet and outer stylet, both of which are inserted into the cylindrical cannula. The outer stylet has a series of strain relieved slits which provide bending over a deflection region in one direction, and the outer stylet is formed from a material such as a shape memory alloy (SMA) having a superelastic phase. The deflection is generated by an SMA wire spanning a deflection extent and attached to the outer stylet on either side of the deflection extent. The inner stylet, when positioned inside the outer stylet, has one or more actuation fibers which couple optical energy into the SMA wire, causing a deflection of the outer stylet over the deflection extent, with the optical energy provided to the actuation fibers for control of the deflection.

Abstract: A wavelength interrogator is coupled to a circulator which couples optical energy from a broadband source to an optical fiber having a plurality of sensors, each sensor reflecting optical energy at a unique wavelength and directing the reflected optical energy to an AWG. The AWG has a detector coupled to each output, and the reflected optical energy from each grating is coupled to the skirt edge response of the AWG such that the adjacent channel responses form a complementary pair response. The complementary pair response is used to convert an AWG skirt response to a wavelength.

Abstract: A wavelength interrogator is coupled to a circulator which couples optical energy from a broadband source to an optical fiber having a plurality of sensors, each sensor reflecting optical energy at a unique wavelength and directing the reflected optical energy to an AWG. The AWG has a detector coupled to each output, and the reflected optical energy from each grating is coupled to the skirt edge response of the AWG such that the adjacent channel responses form a complementary pair response. The complementary pair response is used to convert an AWG skirt response to a wavelength.