Fluorescence Endoscopy Optical Scanner with Partially Coated Lens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current fluorescence emission and imaging technologies in endoscopy and microscopy face limitations such as slow image acquisition speeds, limited spatial coverage, and invasiveness, which hinder effective in-vivo imaging and disease diagnosis, particularly in deep tissue structures.
Innovation Solution
The development of an optical system for fluorescence emission endoscopes with a partially coated objective lens and integrated light pipes, enabling efficient transmission and reflection of illumination and emission light, along with a dual-magnification imaging path for near-IR and visible light, facilitates high-resolution, real-time imaging without the need for pinhole apertures or spatial filtering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If confocal microscopy is used to image tissue, then fluorescence emission can be collected, but imaging depth is limited to about 50 microns and tissue photo-damage occurs in the entire region of exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the excitation and emission light paths using separate optical fibers. The excitation light is delivered through a core fiber while the emitted fluorescence is collected through a cladding fiber, enabling depth-resolved imaging at different tissue layers without exposing the entire illumination path to high-energy light
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses an optical fiber bundle as an intermediary medium to deliver excitation light and collect emission light separately. This allows the excitation light to be confined to a specific focal depth while the emission light is collected from the same depth region, avoiding photo-damage to superficial and deep tissues outside the focal plane
2Illumination intensity
If high energy light is used to excite fluorescence in confocal microscopy, then fluorescence emission can be generated, but the entire region of exposure suffers photo-toxicity and photo-damage
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by confining high-energy excitation light to a specific focal depth within the tissue. The optical fiber bundle delivers excitation light that is focused at a particular depth, and only the fluorescence from that specific depth region is collected, ensuring that photo-toxicity is localized to a minimal volume
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the emission light collection path from the illumination path by using separate optical fibers. The cladding fiber collects fluorescence emission only from the focal region where excitation light is delivered, separating the high-energy illumination from the sensitive detection process
3Measurement precision
If pinhole apertures or spatial filtering elements are used in confocal microscopy, then out-of-focus fluorescence background is reduced, but the system complexity increases and imaging speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the mechanical pinhole aperture system with an optical fiber-based spatial filtering mechanism. The optical fiber bundle inherently provides spatial selectivity through its structure, eliminating the need for moving pinholes or complex mechanical scanning systems while maintaining the ability to reject out-of-focus light
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 solution enhances imaging depth, reduces tissue damage, and improves diagnostic capabilities by enabling high-resolution, real-time imaging of deep tissue structures with reduced invasiveness and photo-toxicity, suitable for applications like nerve-sparing surgery and cancer diagnosis.
Implementation Method 1
an objective lens component having a proximal surface that is only partially coated with a patterned coating that at least selectively reflects or transmits a target illumination or selectively transmits or reflects a target emission
Implementation Method 2
a patterned coating that at least selectively reflects or transmits a target illumination or selectively transmits or reflects a target emission
Implementation Method 3
a patterned coating that at least selectively reflects or transmits a target illumination or selectively transmits or reflects a target emission
Implementation Method 4
transmits fluorescence emission from the target towards a proximal region of the endoscope
Data Source
AI summary
An optical scanner, scanner apparatus, or scanner assembly, which may be particularly advantageous for use in a multiphoton microscope, includes a first drivable bending component, a second drivable bending component mounted perpendicularly to the first component, and at least one optical waveguide coupled one or both of the first and second bending components, wherein the at least one optical waveguide provides both a propagation path for a multiphoton excitation radiation delivery between a light source and a target and a multiphoton-induced emission radiation delivery between the target and a detector. A GRIN relay lens. A multiphoton microscope incorporating the scanner and the GRIN relay lens.