Confocal Microscopy Using Dispersed Structured Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems face limitations in acquiring images of extended sample volumes without loss of registration, particularly in vivo applications, due to motion-induced artifacts and the need for faster scanning speeds while maintaining signal quality, which is challenging with existing parallelization techniques.
Innovation Solution
A confocal microscopy system using dispersed structured illumination, combined with OCT, generates a grid of beamlets across a sample area, allowing simultaneous acquisition and registration of OCT images across extended regions using a 2D sensor array, compensating for spectral dispersion and utilizing different wavelength bands for enhanced resolution and registration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If scanning speed is increased by reducing dwell time, then acquisition speed is improved, but signal to noise ratio degrades
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the illumination into multiple discrete beamlets arranged in a grid pattern across the sample area. Each beamlet independently illuminates a specific region, allowing parallel acquisition across multiple spatial locations simultaneously. This segmentation enables the system to scan larger areas faster while maintaining adequate dwell time for each individual beamlet to achieve sufficient signal quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional single-point scanning to a two-dimensional grid of beamlets. By adding the spatial dimension of multiple parallel beamlets, the system achieves parallelized acquisition without reducing dwell time at each point, thus maintaining signal-to-noise ratio while increasing overall acquisition speed.
2Productivity
If parallelization is implemented to increase scanning speed, then productivity is improved, but registration accuracy deteriorates due to motion artifacts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent acquires reference confocal images at multiple locations before and after the OCT scanning sequence. These reference images serve as pre-computed registration templates that capture the sample's state at different times. By having these preliminary references, the system can accurately register OCT frames even when the sample moves during scanning, as the registration is based on stable reference points rather than real-time position data.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the reference confocal images to compute transformation matrices that feedback-correct the registration of OCT frames. The reference images provide a baseline against which motion during scanning can be measured and compensated, allowing the system to adapt to motion artifacts and maintain registration accuracy despite parallelized acquisition.
3Area of stationary object
If extended sample area is probed with lateral resolution, then area of investigation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a lenslet array to divide the illumination beam into multiple discrete beamlets that form a grid pattern on the sample. This segmentation allows the system to probe a large extended area using a standardized optical path, as the lenslet array naturally creates the multi-point illumination pattern without requiring complex beam shaping optics or multiple separate optical paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The lenslet array serves multiple functions simultaneously: it creates the grid of beamlets for extended area illumination, provides confocal pinhole-like filtering for optical sectioning, and enables parallel acquisition across multiple spatial points. This multi-functionality reduces overall device complexity by consolidating multiple optical functions into a single component.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables high-resolution, snapshot 3D imaging of larger sample volumes with improved registration accuracy, reducing motion artifacts and increasing acquisition speed, while maintaining spatial resolution comparable to confocal microscopy systems.
Implementation Method 1
a wavelength dispersive element for generating, at a first region of a sample, a dispersed structured illumination field in the form of a grid of beamlets for each wavelength within said first wavelength band
Implementation Method 2
one or more optical sources for emitting light in a first wavelength band
Implementation Method 3
a second optical system for collecting light from said dispersed structured illumination field reflected or scattered from said first region of said sample
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus are presented for confocal microscopy using dispersed structured illumination. In certain embodiments the apparatus also comprises an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system, and OCT images acquired from two or more regions of a sample are registered using a corresponding set of two or more larger area images acquired with the confocal microscopy system. In preferred embodiments the apparatus is suitable for analysing the retina of an eye. The confocal microscopy system can be operated in a purely intensity mode or in a coherent mode. In other embodiments a confocal microscopy system using dispersed structured illumination is utilised for surface metrology.