A spectrally encoded endoscopic probe. The probe includes a light guide element, a light focusing element, and a diffraction grating element. The probe is configured such that a set of light beams of multiple wavelengths is diffracted at substantially the same angle at different orders by a diffraction grating element. The set of light beams includes at least three light beams. Each light beam in the set of light beams is associated with a different wavelength. [Selection] Figure 2