Planar Waveguide Illuminator for Super-Resolution Microscopy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current super-resolution microscopy techniques are limited by bulky and expensive optical setups, and existing illuminators for fluorescence microscopy struggle to achieve high resolution and compactness, particularly in DNA sequencing applications.
Innovation Solution
A compact and cost-effective illuminator using a planar waveguide with a patterned mirror and controller to form controllable interference patterns, enabling selective illumination and high-resolution imaging by leveraging evanescent fields outside the waveguide.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If super-resolution techniques are used to improve resolution, then imaging detail is improved, but device complexity and cost increase due to bulky optical setups
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical optical systems with a planar waveguide-based illumination system that uses evanescent fields and interference patterns to achieve super-resolution. The waveguide confines light through total internal reflection and generates controlled interference patterns without requiring bulky optical components, thus substituting a simplified optical-mechanical system with a more compact waveguide-based system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from three-dimensional free-space optical paths to two-dimensional planar waveguide confinement. By confining light to propagate in a planar waveguide and utilizing evanescent fields extending from the waveguide surface, the system achieves super-resolution imaging in a reduced dimensional space, eliminating the need for complex 3D optical alignment and components.
2Device complexity
If conventional illumination is used to simplify the device, then device complexity is reduced, but imaging resolution deteriorates due to diffraction limit
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of light confinement from free-space propagation to waveguide-confined propagation. By confining light to sub-wavelength dimensions within the waveguide, the evanescent field extends beyond the diffraction limit into the near-field region, enabling resolution of features smaller than the wavelength of light used. This parameter change transforms the illumination mechanism from diffraction-limited to sub-diffraction-limited.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary waveguide structure that mediates between the light source and the sample. The waveguide acts as an intermediary that transforms ordinary light into evanescent waves with extended near-fields, enabling super-resolution illumination without requiring complex optical systems. The waveguide material and structure serve as the intermediary that enables the resolution enhancement.
3Device complexity
If random interference patterns are used to reduce device complexity, then device complexity is reduced, but imaging speed decreases due to random sampling requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic control of the interference pattern through a programmable phase modulator that can adjust the relative phase between the two light waves. This dynamic control enables deterministic generation of various interference patterns (stripes, circles, random patterns) on demand, allowing the system to adapt illumination patterns to match the sample structure and accelerate imaging by reducing the number of patterns needed for reconstruction.
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
The solution enables high vertical and in-plane resolution imaging, facilitating faster and more detailed imaging without the need for bulky optics, making it suitable for compact and affordable super-resolution microscopy applications.
Implementation Method 1
the planar waveguide being configured to confine light in a confinement direction by total internal reflection and guide the light wave in a guiding plane from the receiving end to the mirror end
Implementation Method 2
the patterned mirror comprising a pattern configured to confer a diffraction pattern to the reflected light, wherein the diffraction pattern contributes to an interference pattern in the illumination waveguide
Implementation Method 3
the diffraction pattern contributes to an interference pattern in the illumination waveguide
Implementation Method 4
the interference pattern having an evanescent field outside the illumination waveguide, wherein the evanescent field of the interference pattern is configured to illuminate an object in close relation to the illumination waveguide
Data Source
AI summary
An illuminator, comprising: an illumination waveguide, and a controller; the illumination waveguide being a planar waveguide configured to receive a light wave at a receiving end and guide it to a mirror end; the mirror end comprising a patterned mirror configured to reflect at least part of the light wave back into the illumination waveguide, the patterned mirror comprising a pattern configured to confer a diffraction pattern to the reflected light, the diffraction pattern contributing to an interference pattern, the interference pattern having an evanescent field outside the illumination waveguide, wherein the evanescent field of the interference pattern is configured to illuminate an object in close relation to the illumination waveguide; wherein the controller is configured to control a wavefront of the received light wave and to set a relation between the controlled wavefront and the pattern of the patterned mirror such that the interference pattern forms at least one element of constructive interference for selectively illuminating a portion of the object; wherein the controller is further configured to sequentially change the interference pattern.