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Abstract

A noncoherent fiber optic bundle is made coherent by relating the positions of fiber ends in the exit field to the consecutive positions of an initialization beam of light moving in the entrance field. The initialization beam is small compared to the fiber size and is moved along a path in the entrance field in a manner to intersect the entrance ends of the fibers. A sensor array to which the exit field is coupled is interrogated each time the beam is moved to determine which sensors in the array are activated for each incremental position of the beam. The computer stores the address at which the first activation of a sensor occurred, and the address at which a once-activated sensor is no longer activated (turned off). The computer also associates that sensor with the mean beam position between those two addresses. No determination is made as to the positions of the entrance ends of the fiber in the entrance field. The method and apparatus are useful for coherent bundles as well.

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First Claim