Single, step-index optical fibers, when properly employed, can function as optically efficient image scramblers. Their use as optical feeds for astronomical slit spectrographs can reduce zonal error levels in those instruments by orders of magnitude. As a consequence, the application of optical-fiber couplers to new and existing spectrographs may greatly increase the wavelength metric quality of conventional astronomical spectroscopy. The optical efficiencies of fiber couplers of a few tens of meters in length can be comparable to those of typical coudé mirror trains in the visible portions of the spectrum. Elements of the design of fiber couplers are illustrated by discussion of a currently operational instrument.
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William D. Heacox (1986) studied this question.