A hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager

Abstract

The present invention discloses a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager, which relates to the field of hyperspectral optical path application technology, and is mainly used for measuring scattered light at different depths of biological tissues, realizing three-dimensional images of biological tissues, and especially for three-dimensional imaging of lesions in biological tissues. The present invention adopts a color difference spectroscopic device to realize focusing of light at different depths in biological tissues, a surface scanning device focuses light at each point at different depths of sections in biological tissues, a detection device collects scattered light signals focused at each point at different depths of sections in tissues, traverses each point at the sections through the surface scanning device, and measures the scattered light intensity by the detection device, inverts and obtains tissue information of the sections, and focuses light at different depths through the color difference spectroscopic device to obtain tissue information of each section in the entire three-dimensional tissue, thereby realizing a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light image of biological tissues.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of optical technology applications, and specifically relates to high-spectral deep-layer three-dimensional scattered light imaging. Background Art

[0002] In vivo imaging of biological tissues is an important research topic in medicine. It is an important means and method for diagnosing, detecting and treating in vivo health conditions. For example, X-ray tomography, positron emission tomography and ultrasound imaging can all image blood vessels. However, these technologies are only based on the transmission or reflection characteristics of tissues to the detection medium, and cannot achieve three-dimensional imaging of tissues.

[0003] OCT uses optical weak coherent reflection and has the advantages of non-invasive, high-resolution and high-speed imaging at a certain detection depth, which is suitable for biomedical applications. However, due to the high scattering of most organisms, deep detection is usually not possible;

[0004] Photoacoustic imaging technology uses the property of tissue to absorb radiation and emit sound waves. It encodes the tissue's absorption of light into ultrasound and detects ultrasound to achieve three-dimensional imaging of the tissue. However, photoacoustic imaging is a superposition of point imaging codes. It needs to detect every point in three-dimensional space and move the positions of the excitation point and the detection point. It involves high-speed and precise movement of mechanical parts and is often non-real-time detection.

[0005] In the near-infrared band, biological tissues exhibit optical properties of high scattering and low absorption to photons, and are applied to functional detection. Currently, only overall imaging is detected, and the cross-sectional structure of each layer in the tissue cannot be ascertained. The present invention proposes a high-spectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imaging device to detect three-dimensional images in biological tissues in real time. Summary of the invention

[0006] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a high-spectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imaging device, which is mainly used for measuring scattered light at different depths of biological tissues to achieve three-dimensional imaging of biological tissues, especially for three-dimensional imaging of lesions in tissues.

[0007] The present invention adopts a chromatic aberration spectroscopic device to realize focusing of light at different depths in biological tissues, a surface scanning device focuses light on each point at different depths of sections in biological tissues, a detection device collects scattered light signals focused on each point at different depths of sections in the tissues, traverses each point at the section through the surface scanning device, and measures the scattered light intensity by the detection device, and inverts the tissue information of the section. The chromatic aberration spectroscopic device focuses light at different depths to obtain tissue information of each section in the entire three-dimensional tissue, thereby realizing high-spectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imaging of biological tissues.

[0008] The technical solution of the present invention is as follows:

[0009] A hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager, characterized by comprising the following parts:

[0010] Chromatic difference spectrometer: realizes the distribution of the wavelength of the light source on the optical axis, with the same wavelengths gathered at the same depth in the axial direction and different wavelengths gathered at different depths;

[0011] Surface scanning device: realizes the positioning of each point in the two-dimensional surface of the tissue through scanning;

[0012] Detection device: collects scattered light signals and converts them into biological tissue information of the test point.

[0013] The chromatic aberration spectrometer realizes the focusing of light at different depths in biological tissues; the surface scanning device focuses light at each point on sections at different depths in biological tissues; the detection device collects scattered light signals focused at each point on sections at different depths in the tissues, and inverts the three-dimensional scattered light image of the biological tissues.

[0014] The hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager as described above is characterized in that: the chromatic aberration spectroscopic device comprises a chromatic aberration mirror (101), a tunable filter (102), and a light source (103); the light source (103) is a polychromatic light O, which is composed of monochromatic light O of multiple wavelengths. i constitute;

[0015] The tunable filter (102) uses a liquid crystal tunable filter to achieve light filtering, and is composed of a liquid crystal filter (1021) and a tunable filter controller (1022). The tunable filter controller (1022) achieves transmission wavelength selection of the liquid crystal filter (1021) through electrical modulation.

[0016] The chromatic aberration mirror (101) uses the principle of light dispersion to achieve axial distribution of light, so that light of the same wavelength is focused at the same axial position, and a longer wavelength is focused to a farther axial position than a shorter wavelength.

[0017] The light source (103) emits a complex light O, which is converted into a monochromatic light O by passing through the tunable filter (102). i , after passing through the chromatic aberration mirror (101), it is focused at a depth of hi in the biological tissue.

[0018] The hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager as described above is characterized in that: the surface scanning device (20) is implemented by a DMD micromirror array (201), the DMD micromirror array (201) is composed of a plurality of micro-reflection switch units (2011) arranged horizontally and vertically, each micro-reflection switch unit (2011) can realize three states of 0°, +12°, and -12°, and the direction of the three states is controlled by a DMD controller (2012);

[0019] The light source (103) becomes monochromatic light after passing through the tunable filter (102). i Then, the light enters the DMD micromirror array (201), and the micro-reflection switch unit (2011) realizes the positioning of each point in the two-dimensional surface of the tissue. The state timing of the micro-reflection switch unit (2001) is set by the DMD controller (2012), so that the light is irradiated on each point of the section at a specific depth in the biological tissue.

[0020] The hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager as described above is characterized in that: the detection device (30) comprises a beam splitter (301) and a detector (302); the transmitted light O i After passing through the micro-reflection switch unit (2001) and the beam splitter (301), the light is focused at a depth hi in the biological tissue after passing through the chromatic aberration mirror (101). After interacting with the biological tissue, the light returns to the chromatic aberration mirror (101) and the beam splitter (301) in sequence. The detector (302) measures the scattered light signal of the tissue at the point hi, and thereby inverts the tissue information BTi at the point.

[0021] The hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager as described above is characterized in that: the optical path in the hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager can collect scattered light interacting with biological tissue to obtain a three-dimensional scattered light image;

[0022] The fluorescence generated by the interaction between biological tissues can also be collected to image the biological tissues. The illumination light is irradiated inside the biological tissues to generate fluorescence of another wavelength. The fluorescence is collected by using a dichroic mirror (3017). The dichroic mirror (3017) is a reflection filter for short wavelengths to pass through long wavelengths. After passing through the chromatic aberration mirror (101) and the dichroic mirror (3017), the fluorescence of this wavelength is collected by using a detector (3028) to obtain information on biological tissue points within a specific depth. The wavelength traversal of the chromatic aberration spectroscopic device (10) and the traversal of the micro-reflection switch unit (2011) of the same depth section by the surface scanning device (20) can obtain a three-dimensional fluorescence image of the deep biological tissue. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a chromatic aberration spectrometer for a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4A schematic diagram of realizing a tunable liquid crystal filter of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a micro-reflection switch unit of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of DMD application of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager of the present invention;

[0029] FIG. 7( a ) is a schematic diagram of a detection device for reflection collection of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to the present invention;

[0030] FIG7( b ) is a schematic diagram of a detection device for transmission acquisition of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to the present invention;

[0031] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager used for three-dimensional fluorescence imaging according to the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0033] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device of the present invention, which is characterized by comprising the following parts:

[0034] Chromatic difference spectroscopic device (10): realizes the distribution of wavelengths of the light source on the optical axis, with the same wavelengths converging at the same depth in the axial direction and different wavelengths converging at different depths in the axial direction;

[0035] Surface scanning device (20): realizes positioning of each point in a two-dimensional surface of the tissue by scanning;

[0036] Detection device (30): collects scattered light signals and converts them into biological tissue information of the point to be detected;

[0037] The chromatic aberration spectroscopic device (10) realizes focusing of light at different depths in biological tissue; the surface scanning device focuses light at each point at different depth sections in the biological tissue; the detection device collects scattered light signals focused at each point at different depth sections in the tissue, and inverts a three-dimensional scattered light image of the biological tissue.

[0038] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device of the present invention, wherein the chromatic aberration spectrometer comprises a chromatic aberration mirror (101), a tunable filter (102), and a light source (103);

[0039] The light source (103) is a polychromatic light O, which is composed of monochromatic light O of multiple wavelengths. i constitute;

[0040] The tunable filter (102) uses a liquid crystal tunable filter to achieve light filtering, and is composed of a liquid crystal filter (1021) and a tunable filter controller (1022). The tunable filter controller (1022) achieves transmission wavelength selection of the liquid crystal filter (1021) through electrical modulation.

[0041] The chromatic aberration mirror (101) uses the principle of light dispersion to achieve axial distribution of light, so that light of the same wavelength is focused at the same axial position, and a longer wavelength is focused to a farther axial position than a shorter wavelength.

[0042] The light source (103) emits a complex light O, which is converted into a monochromatic light O by passing through the tunable filter (102). i , after passing through the chromatic aberration mirror (101), it is focused at a depth of hi in the biological tissue.

[0043] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a chromatic aberration spectrometer of a high-spectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measuring device of the present invention;

[0044] The light source emits a beam of polychromatic light with a wide spectrum, which is formed into monochromatic light of different wavelengths λi through a wavelength spectrometer (102), and is focused on the axial direction through a chromatic aberration mirror (101); the same wavelength is focused at the same point, and each wavelength corresponds to a distance value; the measuring light penetrates the tissue and is scattered by the tissue, and is converged to the detector through the chromatic aberration mirror, and a specific wavelength λi is set through a tunable filter (1021), so that only light with a wavelength λi can enter the interior of the biological tissue, and the returned scattered light is collected to obtain tissue scattering information at a specific depth hi.

[0045] The light splitting device (102) is composed of a light splitting component and a controller. A liquid crystal filter (1021) is used to split the wavelength, and a tunable filter controller (1022) is used to modulate the wavelength.

[0046] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of realizing a tunable liquid crystal filter of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device of the present invention;

[0047] We use a liquid crystal filter (1021) to achieve tuning of the transmission wavelength. According to the electrically controlled birefringence effect of the liquid crystal, the o-light and the e-light produce an optical path difference in the crystal. The optical path difference causes the phase of the output light of the Lyot wave plate to be different, and the transmittance of the output light is different. The tunable liquid crystal filter is composed of a cascade of several Lyot wave plate units. Different voltages are applied to the liquid crystal filter (1021) through a tunable filter controller (1022) to modulate the phase of the wavelength, select the output range of a specific band, realize dynamic modulation of the filter, and obtain high-precision narrow-wave output. The tunable liquid crystal filter has no moving parts, a large aperture, a large field of view, and good optical characteristics. The output band is selected by using an electrically controlled component, which has the advantages of simple control and small modulation voltage.

[0048] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a micro-reflection switch unit of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device of the present invention;

[0049] DMD is a digital reflective switch array device manufactured by Texas Instruments in the United States. The entire DMD is composed of a number of micro-reflective switch units (2001) arranged horizontally and vertically. The surface of each micro-reflective switch unit (2001) is an aluminum-plated reflector, which rotates along an axis and has three states of 0, +12°, and -12°. The DMD controller (202) issues instructions to control the three direction selections of its reflective surface.

[0050] Figure 6 A DMD application schematic diagram of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device of the present invention;

[0051] The direction of the micro-control switch unit (2001) determines whether light irradiated on the surface of the micro-reflection switch unit (2001) enters or does not enter the measurement optical path. When light is irradiated on the surface of the DMD (201), the DMD controller (202) selects a specific micro-reflection switch unit (2001) in a time sequence to reflect the light into the chromatic aberration mirror (102), thereby entering the depth hi in the biological tissue, traversing all the micro-reflection switch units (2001) in the entire DMD, and realizing tissue information of the entire section at the depth hi in the biological tissue.

[0052] FIG. 7( a ) is a schematic diagram of a detection device for reflection collection of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device according to the present invention;

[0053] After being scattered by biological tissue and returned to the chromatic aberration mirror (102), the photons are partially reflected to the detector (3024) after being reflected by the beam splitter (3011). The beam splitter (3011) is a beam splitter device with a certain ratio (the present invention adopts a 50 / 50 beam splitter). In order to improve the detection efficiency, a light path ( Figure 3) is added with a polarizer (3011); after being reflected by the beam splitter (3011) in the detection light path, a polarizer (3013) is added in front of the detector (3024) to reduce the effect of the mirror reflection of the lens on the light, so that the light collected by the detector (3024) is the return light of the light scattered in the biological tissue.

[0054] FIG7( b ) is a schematic diagram of a detection device for transmission collection of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light measurement device of the present invention;

[0055] The transmission spectroscopic method can also be used to collect the returned scattered light. After the photons are scattered by the biological tissue and returned to the chromatic aberration mirror (102), they are transmitted through the spectroscopic plate (3012) and partially transmitted to the detector (3026). The spectroscopic plate (3012) is a spectroscopic device with a certain ratio (the present invention uses a 50 / 50 spectroscopic plate). In order to improve the detection efficiency, a light path ( Figure 3 ) is added with a polarizer (3011); after being transmitted through the beam splitter (3012) in the detection light path, a polarizer (3014) is added in front of the detector (3026) to reduce the effect of the mirror reflection of the lens on the light, so that the light collected by the detector (3026) is the return light of the light scattered in the biological tissue.

[0056] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager used for three-dimensional fluorescence imaging;

[0057] An optical path in a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager can collect scattered light interacting with biological tissue to obtain a three-dimensional scattered light image;

[0058] The fluorescence generated by the interaction of biological tissues can also be collected to image the biological tissues. The illumination light is irradiated inside the biological tissues to generate fluorescence of another wavelength. The fluorescence is collected by using a dichroic mirror (3017). The dichroic mirror is a reflection filter for short wavelengths to pass through long wavelengths. After passing through the chromatic aberration mirror (101) and the dichroic mirror (3017), the fluorescence of this wavelength is collected by using a detector (3028) to obtain information of biological tissue points within a specific depth. The wavelength traversal of the chromatic aberration spectrometer (10) and the traversal of the micro-reflection switch unit (2011) of the same depth section by the surface scanning device (20) can obtain a three-dimensional fluorescence image of the deep biological tissue.

[0059] Those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager, characterized in that Contains the following sections: A chromatic aberration spectroscopic device (10) is provided for achieving the distribution of wavelengths of a light source on an optical axis, with the same wavelengths converging at the same axial depth and different wavelengths converging at different axial depths; the chromatic aberration spectroscopic device (10) comprises a chromatic aberration mirror (101), a tunable filter (102) and a light source (103); the light source (103) is a polychromatic light O, which is composed of monochromatic lights Oi of multiple wavelengths; the polychromatic light O emitted by the light source (103) is converted into monochromatic lights Oi of different wavelengths through the tunable filter (102), and is focused at different hi depths in biological tissue after passing through the chromatic aberration mirror (101); A surface scanning device (20) is used to locate each point in a two-dimensional surface of a tissue by scanning; the surface scanning device (20) comprises a DMD micromirror array (201) and an optical path; a light source (103) is converted into monochromatic light Oi after passing through a tunable filter (102) and then enters the DMD micromirror array (201); after being reflected by the DMD micromirror array (201), it is irradiated on a color difference mirror (101) and focused in biological tissue after passing through the color difference mirror (101); monochromatic light Oi of the same wavelength is focused at the same depth hi; Detection device (30): collects scattered light signals and converts them into biological tissue information of the point to be detected; The chromatic aberration spectroscopic device (10) realizes focusing of light at different depths in biological tissue, the surface scanning device (20) focuses light at each point at different depth sections in the biological tissue, and the detection device (30) collects scattered light signals focused at each point at different depth sections in the tissue, thereby inverting a three-dimensional scattered light image of the biological tissue.

2. The chromatic aberration mirror (101) of the hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to claim 1, characterized in that: The chromatic aberration mirror (101) uses the principle of light dispersion to achieve axial distribution of light, so that light of the same wavelength is focused at the same axial position, and a longer wavelength is focused to a farther axial position than a shorter wavelength.

3. The tunable filter (102) for a hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tunable filter (102) uses a liquid crystal tunable filter to achieve filtering, and is composed of a liquid crystal filter (1021) and a tunable filter controller (1022). The tunable filter controller (1022) achieves transmission wavelength selection of the liquid crystal filter (1021) through electrical modulation.

4. The DMD micromirror array (201) of the hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to claim 1, characterized in that: The DMD micromirror array (201) is composed of a plurality of micro-reflective switch units (2011) arranged horizontally and vertically, each micro-reflective switch unit (2011) can realize three states of 0°, +12°, and -12°, and the direction of the three states is controlled by a DMD controller (2012).

5. The surface scanning device (20) of the hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to claim 1, characterized in that: The light source (103) is converted into monochromatic light Oi after passing through the tunable filter (102) and then enters the DMD micromirror array (201). The micro-reflection switch unit (2011) realizes the positioning of each point in the two-dimensional surface of the tissue. The state sequence of the micro-reflection switch unit (2011) is set by the DMD controller (2012) to realize the light irradiation of each point on the section at the depth hi in the biological tissue.

6. The hyperspectral deep three-dimensional scattered light imager according to claim 1, characterized in that: The detection device (30) comprises a reflective dichroic mirror (3011) and a detector (3024); The transmitted light Oi passes through the micro-reflection switch unit (2011) and the reflective dichroic mirror (3011), and then passes through the chromatic aberration mirror (101) and is focused at a depth hi in the biological tissue. After interacting with the biological tissue, the light returns to the chromatic aberration mirror (101) and the reflective dichroic mirror (3011) in sequence. The scattered light signal of the tissue at the point hi is measured by the detector (3024), and the tissue information BTi of the point is inverted therefrom.

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