Dual-mode phase and fluorescence imaging with a confocal laser scanning microscope

Phase image correlation spectroscopy for detecting microfluidic dynamics

It is essential to quantify the physical properties and the dynamics of flowing particles in many fields, especially in microfluidic-related applications. We propose phase image correlation spectroscopy (PICS) as a versatile tool to quantify the concentration, hydro-diameter, and flow velocity of unlabeled particles by correlating the pixels of the phase images taken on flowing particles in a microfluidic device. Compared with conventional image correlation spectroscopy, PICS is minimally invasive, relatively simple, and more efficient, since it utilizes the intrinsic phase of the particles to provide a contrast instead of fluorescent labeling. We demonstrate the feasibility of PICS by measuring flowing polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microspheres and yeast in a microfluidic device. We can envisage that PICS will become an essential inspection tool in biomedicine and industry.

A Cost-Effective Nucleic Acid Detection System Using a Portable Microscopic Device

A fluorescence microscope is one of the most important tools for biomedical research and laboratory diagnosis. However, its high cost and bulky size hinder the application of laboratory microscopes in space-limited and low-resource applications. Here, in this work, we proposed a portable and cost-effective fluorescence microscope. Assembled from a set of 3D print components and a webcam, it consists of a three-degree-of-freedom sliding platform and a microscopic imaging system. The microscope is capable of bright-field and fluorescence imaging with micron-level resolution. The resolution and field of view of the microscope were evaluated. Compared with a laboratory-grade inverted fluorescence microscope, the portable microscope shows satisfactory performance, both in the bright-field and fluorescence mode. From the configurations of local resources, the microscope costs around USD 100 to assemble. To demonstrate the capability of the portable fluorescence microscope, we proposed a quantitative polymerase chain reaction experiment for meat product authenticating applications. The portable and low-cost microscope platform demonstrates the benefits in space-constrained environments and shows high potential in telemedicine, point-of-care testing, and more.

Fast volumetric imaging with line-scan confocal microscopy by electrically tunable lens at resonant frequency

In microscopic imaging of biological tissues, particularly real-time visualization of neuronal activities, rapid acquisition of volumetric images poses a prominent challenge. Typically, two-dimensional (2D) microscopy can be devised into an imaging system with 3D capability using any varifocal lens. Despite the conceptual simplicity, such an upgrade yet requires additional, complicated device components and usually suffers from a reduced acquisition rate, which is critical to properly document rapid neurophysiological dynamics. In this study, we implemented an electrically tunable lens (ETL) in the line-scan confocal microscopy (LSCM), enabling the volumetric acquisition at the rate of 20 frames per second with a maximum volume of interest of 315 × 315 × 80 µm³. The axial extent of point-spread-function (PSF) was 17.6 ± 1.6 µm and 90.4 ± 2.1 µm with the ETL operating in either stationary or resonant mode, respectively, revealing significant depth axial penetration by the resonant mode ETL microscopy. We further demonstrated the utilities of the ETL system by volume imaging of both cleared mouse brain ex vivo samples and in vivo brains. The current study showed a successful application of resonant ETL for constructing a high-performance 3D axially scanning LSCM (asLSCM) system. Such advances in rapid volumetric imaging would significantly enhance our understanding of various dynamic biological processes.

IPLNet: a neural network for intensity-polarization imaging in low light

Imaging in low light is significant but challenging in many applications. Adding the polarization information into the imaging system compromises the drawbacks of the conventional intensity imaging to some extent. However, generally speaking, the qualities of intensity images and polarization images cannot be compatible due to the characteristic differences in polarimetric operators. In this Letter, we collected, to the best of our knowledge, the first polarimetric imaging dataset in low light and present a specially designed neural network to enhance the image qualities of intensity and polarization simultaneously. Both indoor and outdoor experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of this neural network-based solution, which may find important applications for object detection and vision in photon-starved environments.

Digital Holographic Multimodal Cross-Sectional Fluorescence and Quantitative Phase Imaging System

We present a multimodal imaging system based on simple off-axis digital holography, for simultaneous recording and retrieval of cross-sectional fluorescence and quantitative phase imaging of the biological specimen. Synergism in the imaging capabilities can be achieved by incorporating two off-axis digital holographic microscopes integrated to record different information at the same time. The cross-sectional fluorescence imaging is realized by a common-path configuration of the single-shot off-axis incoherent digital holographic system. The quantitative phase imaging, on the other hand, is achieved by another off-axis coherent digital holographic microscopy operating in transmission mode. The fundamental characteristics of the proposed multimodal system are confirmed by performing various experiments on fluorescent beads and fluorescent protein-labeled living cells of the moss Physcomitrella patens lying at different axial depth positions. Furthermore, the cross-sectional live fluorescence and phase imaging of the fluorescent beads are demonstrated by the proposed multimodal system. The experimental results presented here corroborate the feasibility of the proposed system and indicate its potential in the applications to analyze the functional and structural behavior of biological cells and tissues.

Three-dimensional fluorescence imaging using the transport of intensity equation

We propose a nonscanning three-dimensional (3-D) fluorescence imaging technique using the transport of intensity equation (TIE) and free-space Fresnel propagation. In this imaging technique, a phase distribution corresponding to defocused fluorescence images with a point-light-source-like shape is retrieved by a TIE-based phase retrieval algorithm. From the obtained phase distribution, and its corresponding amplitude distribution, of the defocused fluorescence image, various images at different distances can be reconstructed at the desired plane after Fresnel propagation of the complex wave function. Through the proposed imaging approach, the 3-D fluorescence imaging can be performed in multiple planes. The fluorescence intensity images are captured with the help of an electrically tunable lens; hence, the imaging technique is free from motion artifacts. We present experimental results corresponding to microbeads and a biological sample to demonstrate the proposed 3-D fluorescence imaging technique.