[go: up one dir, main page]

WO2025178907A1 - Procédés et appareil de décalage latéral d'images grand champ - Google Patents

Procédés et appareil de décalage latéral d'images grand champ

Info

Publication number
WO2025178907A1
WO2025178907A1 PCT/US2025/016403 US2025016403W WO2025178907A1 WO 2025178907 A1 WO2025178907 A1 WO 2025178907A1 US 2025016403 W US2025016403 W US 2025016403W WO 2025178907 A1 WO2025178907 A1 WO 2025178907A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
widefield
image
shifting
tunable
output
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
PCT/US2025/016403
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Juliet GOPINATH
Victor Bright
Vikrant Kumar
Catherine SALADRIGAS
Ioannis Kymississ
Eduardo Miscles
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
University of Colorado System
University of Colorado Denver
Original Assignee
University of Colorado System
University of Colorado Denver
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by University of Colorado System, University of Colorado Denver filed Critical University of Colorado System
Publication of WO2025178907A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025178907A1/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B26/00—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements
    • G02B26/004—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements based on a displacement or a deformation of a fluid
    • G02B26/005—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements based on a displacement or a deformation of a fluid based on electrowetting
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/0004—Microscopes specially adapted for specific applications
    • G02B21/002—Scanning microscopes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/16—Microscopes adapted for ultraviolet illumination ; Fluorescence microscopes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B5/00—Optical elements other than lenses
    • G02B5/04—Prisms
    • G02B5/06—Fluid-filled or evacuated prisms
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B2207/00—Coding scheme for general features or characteristics of optical elements and systems of subclass G02B, but not including elements and systems which would be classified in G02B6/00 and subgroups
    • G02B2207/115—Electrowetting

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for laterally shifting widefield images.
  • the present invention relates to wobulation using tunable electrowetting cells.
  • Imaging systems from microscopes, to cameras, to projectors are always pushing the limit on resolution. Resolution affects how much detail can be captured and displayed in an image, with impacts on many applications including consumer cameras and displays, widefield microscopy, and biomedical imaging.
  • Pixel shifting technologies have expanded in the last few decades as a solution to enhance the resolution of cameras and projectors, benefiting a variety of applications from consumer products to biomedical imaging.
  • One such technique is wobulation, in which a projector frame is computationally split into multiple subframes offset by subpixel distances, so that a spatial light modulator can rapidly alternate between the subframes, resulting in increased resolution.
  • a digital micromirror device (DMD) is used to drive the wobulation.
  • DMD digital micromirror device
  • a system for shifting a widefield image includes a source for providing a widefield input image, a tunable electrowetting cell having a liquid-liquid interface shape and electrodes controlled by an applied voltage, and circuitry configured to provide varying voltages to the electrowetting cell according to a control signal.
  • the electrowetting cell receives the widefield image and forms a widefield output image. The output image shifts essentially laterally according to the applied voltage.
  • the widefield image is essentially laterally shifted because the electrowetting cell tilts the widefield output image a small enough amount that the tilt doesn’t affect the image quality to any real extent.
  • output image is tilted less than 1°, and in some cases less than 0.22°.
  • the electrowetting cell electrodes are narrowly spaced at one end, e.g. the distance between them is under 50pm.
  • the source for providing a widefield input image may be an LED display.
  • the LED display may be patterned, which is useful for projecting the patterned output widefield display onto a sample, e.g. for structured illumination in microscopy.
  • the pattern is wobulated, improving image resolution. Wobulation is accomplished by varying the voltage provided to the tunable electrowetting cell in an oscillating manner.
  • Embodiments eliminate the need for mechanical moving elements because the tunable cell moves the image based on an electrical signal rather than moving a mirror (e.g., a digital micromirror device) or mechanically shifting a sensor (e.g., pixel shift cameras).
  • a mirror e.g., a digital micromirror device
  • mechanically shifting a sensor e.g., pixel shift cameras
  • Fluorescence 222 from the sample is collected back through the objective 110 and tube lens 108 and is reflected by a short pass dichroic 106 (Thorlabs DMSP505R), through an emission filter (Chroma 525/20m) (not shown), onto a CMOS sensor 114 (FLIR BFLY-U3-23SC-C).
  • a short pass dichroic 106 Thinlabs DMSP505R
  • an emission filter Chroma 525/20m
  • CMOS sensor 114 FLIR BFLY-U3-23SC-C
  • the electrowetting prism beam steering angle scales linearly with the applied Vdiff.
  • the differential voltage can easily be scaled for any other pattern frequency.
  • the magnitude of differential voltages ranged from 0.25 V to 0.8 V, corresponding to a steering angle of 0.07 to 0.23 degrees, depending on the period of the structured illumination.
  • Previous characterization of electrowetting prisms with the DI/PCH liquid combination has found a 1 % drift in steering angle over 40 minutes. No drift was observed when acquiring the three subimages.
  • the microscope of Figure 2 is only one example of an imaging system benefiting from pixel shifting techniques such as wobulation.
  • the two scanning modalities with the prism offer different maximum frame rates.
  • static scanning a camera can be triggered to acquire an image after the electrowetting prism is set to each angle.
  • the response time should be about 60 ms for the small steering angles demonstrated, corresponding to a 16.67 Hz frame rate.
  • Dynamic scanning with smaller scan angles could reach the kHz regime.
  • Previous work has demonstrated a 0.5 degree steering angle at 500 Hz with dynamic scanning.
  • the steering angles used here were less than 0.22 degrees, which would allow for faster acquisition.
  • Electrowetting wobulation can thus be extended to a more traditional wobulation implementation for projectors as the electrowetting prism can easily exceed the 30-60 Hz range that is required.
  • Functional imaging which may be monitored with a miniature microscope, requires high frame rates from 10’s of Hz to the kHz regime, with the exact frame rate depending on the indicator reporting on neural activity.
  • Pixel shift cameras often require a second per sub-image to allow for stabilization of the sensor after it moves, which would be unnecessary with our prism.
  • Miniature microscopes commonly use lenses on the order of 3-6 mm diameters.
  • the electrodes 322, 328 controlled by V2 304 are shown in detail.
  • the other electrodes are similarly configured.
  • This example electrowetting prism 204 is made in 4 mm inner diameter functionalized glass cylinders 330 with an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode layer 328, parylene HT dielectric layer 326, and hydrophobic coating 324.
  • ITO indium tin oxide
  • the example device shown in Figures 3A and 3B is filled with equal volumes deionized (DI) water 310 and 1-phenyl-1 -cyclohexene (PCH) 312.
  • DI deionized
  • PCH 1-phenyl-1 -cyclohexene
  • Figure 3C is a diagram of steering angles versus voltages for this prism. This device can steer up to five degrees with voltages of ⁇ 20V.
  • Figure 4 is a side schematic diagram of a tunable electrowetting prism steered at two angles. Since this is a side view, the beam steering is shown as up 420A and flat 420B. This might be accomplished by applying a voltage differential between V1 302 and V3 304 (see Figure 3A-C). Here, object 402 is shown as scanned between two directions 420A and 420B to form two images 412A and 412B.
  • Scanning side to side would then be accomplished by applying a voltage differential between V2 306 and V4 308. This is especially useful if the pattern is other than simply parallel stripes.
  • Figure 9 is a plot comparing contrast of an image from a wobulated microscope versus contrast of a pseudo-widefield microscope.
  • Figure 5 shows intensity lineouts of a 12-stripe microLED pattern 120 corresponding to three evenly spaced phases, from images with a thin fluorescent target.
  • a phase of 2TT/3 corresponds to the electrowetting prism 204 at flat, without an angle applied to the interface.
  • Phases of 0 and 4TT/3 corresponds to applying ⁇ Vdiff , respectively.
  • the pattern contrast is unaffected by applying the tilt to the interface.
  • Figure 6 is a diagram showing pattern contrast as a function of the pattern period for patterns imaged with (light) and without (black) electrowetting prism 204.
  • the slight decrease in contrast with the addition of the prism results from the unactuated regions of the liquid-liquid interface at the electrode gaps that are necessary for scanning with an electrowetting device.
  • the pattern contrast is only minimally affected by adding the prism 204 to the imaging system.
  • the electrode gaps may be small, such as 50pm or less.
  • Figures 7, 8 and 9 illustrate the performance of pseudo-widefield and an OS-SIM (optical sectioning structured illumination microscopy) wobulated microscope imaging with a pollen autofluorescence signal.
  • the thin fluorescent target used to characterize the pattern contrast and sectioning strength was prepared by applying a fluorescent dye (Sharpie Fluorescent Yellow Highlighter #27025) to a coverslip which is then sealed against a microscope slide.
  • a fluorescent dye Sharpie Fluorescent Yellow Highlighter #27025
  • the experiment used a prepared slide of mixed pollen grains (Carolina Biological Supply Inc.), which autofluoresces when exposed to visible light.
  • a 24-micron period pattern was used, which offered sufficient sectioning strength to resolve axial slices of the ⁇ 80 micron diameter pollen grain.
  • Sample images at 14 and 40 microns from the top of the pollen grain, as well as the maximum intensity projection of an axial scan through the pollen grain for both pseudo-widefield and OS-SIM were analyzed.
  • Figure 8 compares two images (pseudo-widefield and OS-SIM) at 40 microns below the start of a pollen autofluorescence signal. Intensity lineouts across the edge of the pollen grain are shown from both images. A reduction in signal from the center of the pollen, corresponding to out of focus fluorescence, can be seen.
  • Figure 9 compares the contrast of pollen features in the pseudo-widefield and OS- SIM images. It considers the contrast of the edge at the 40 micron slice, and determines contrast from Imax at the edge of the grain and Imin in the center. The contrast improved from 32% to 55%. It also considers the nulls of the pollen grain at 14 microns, where Imax is defined at the surface between nulls and Imin is determined at the null. The OS-SIM improves the contrast from 22% in the pseudo- widefield to 37%.
  • a slight decrease in contrast and increase in sectioning strength from adding the electrowetting prism are likely the result of the imaged light overfilling the prism, extending beyond the usable aperture of the device.
  • the liquid-liquid interface remains unactuated near the gaps in the ITO conductive layer that enable multielectrode devices. Consequently, when actuating to flat, the interface near the unactuated regions will lead to aberrations.
  • the usable aperture of the device can be better matched in size to the beam path of the imaging system.
  • Another alternative could be to bias the device away from a flat liquid-liquid interface, which would lead to less disparity between the unactuated regions and the curvature of the actuated interface. Operating the prism with a curved interface would involve an additional lens to compensate.
  • Figure 10 is a plot of predicted performance of a wobulated microscope versus measured performance.
  • Theoretical (x’s) and measured optical sectioning (OS) thickness are shown as a function of normalized spatial frequency.
  • the predicted sectioning strength is determined using the Stokseth approximation assuming the NA of the imaging system without the prism, for each frequency used for characterization and provides a reference to characterize the impact of the electrowetting prism.
  • the experimental sectioning strength is measured with a thin fluorescent target. Error bars on the measured sectioning strengths are derived from the Gaussian fits.
  • the theoretical sectioning strength for each of the patterns was calculated using the spatial frequencies measured in the sample plane for four patterns, and assuming a diffraction limited system.
  • Theoretical sectioning strengths were 9.7, 15, 18, and 32 microns.
  • the sectioning thickness was between 2 and 7 microns larger for electrowetting wobulation than for an ideal imaging system.
  • the experimental and theoretical sectioning strengths as a function of the normalized spatial frequency are plotted in Figure 10, where the normalized spatial frequency is derived by normalizing to the theoretical maximum cutoff frequency.
  • One application for electrowetting wobulation in OS-SI M is to enhance display resolution so that one could employ a 2-stripe pattern instead of a 6-stripe pattern.
  • Table 1 compares measured sectioning strength and corresponding calculated sectioning strength of a 3x coarser pattern.
  • Each characterized pattern period includes measured wobulation optical section (OS) and theoretical sectioning strength for a pattern of 3x the period.
  • OS measured wobulation optical section
  • the prism 204 slightly reduces the optical sectioning strength thickness for a given pattern frequency, the measured sectioning strength outperforms a 3x coarser pattern of the diffraction limited system.
  • Lateral resolution of a widefield microscope is unaffected by OS-SIM. Furthermore, the prism 204 is before the dichroic 106 in the beam path. Thus, electrowetting wobulation has no impact on the NA of the emission arm and by extension does not affect the lateral resolution.
  • the lateral resolution is governed by the standard elements of the microscope. The FWHM of bead profiles of 1 .1 micron fluorescent beads is 1 ,2 ⁇ 0.3 microns.

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
  • Microscoopes, Condenser (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne des dispositifs optiques pour décaler latéralement des images grand champ. Une image grand champ d'entrée est fournie à une cellule d'électromouillage commandée par des tensions de commande qui projette une image grand champ de sortie. L'image de sortie est inclinée d'une quantité suffisamment petite pour que l'image grand champ de sortie soit efficacement décalée latéralement. Les tensions de commande peuvent varier de manière oscillante afin de produire une wobulation.
PCT/US2025/016403 2024-02-19 2025-02-19 Procédés et appareil de décalage latéral d'images grand champ Pending WO2025178907A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US202463555267P 2024-02-19 2024-02-19
US63/555,267 2024-02-19

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2025178907A1 true WO2025178907A1 (fr) 2025-08-28

Family

ID=96847703

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2025/016403 Pending WO2025178907A1 (fr) 2024-02-19 2025-02-19 Procédés et appareil de décalage latéral d'images grand champ

Country Status (1)

Country Link
WO (1) WO2025178907A1 (fr)

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20080283414A1 (en) * 2007-05-17 2008-11-20 Monroe Charles W Electrowetting devices
US20170109865A1 (en) * 2015-10-15 2017-04-20 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Apparatus and method for acquiring image
US20190047488A1 (en) * 2017-08-10 2019-02-14 Gentex Corporation Low cost camera
US20200073100A1 (en) * 2018-08-30 2020-03-05 The Regents Of The University Of Colorado, A Body Corporate Optical interfaces and methods for rapid volumetric neural modulation and sensing
US20210208387A1 (en) * 2018-05-22 2021-07-08 Corning Incorporated Electrowetting devices

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20080283414A1 (en) * 2007-05-17 2008-11-20 Monroe Charles W Electrowetting devices
US20170109865A1 (en) * 2015-10-15 2017-04-20 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Apparatus and method for acquiring image
US20190047488A1 (en) * 2017-08-10 2019-02-14 Gentex Corporation Low cost camera
US20210208387A1 (en) * 2018-05-22 2021-07-08 Corning Incorporated Electrowetting devices
US20200073100A1 (en) * 2018-08-30 2020-03-05 The Regents Of The University Of Colorado, A Body Corporate Optical interfaces and methods for rapid volumetric neural modulation and sensing

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US10732437B2 (en) Highly scattering metasurface phase masks for complex wavefront engineering
US7940442B2 (en) Optical scanning device and component thereof
JP5260320B2 (ja) 平板表示装置の検査システム及び検査方法
US9651774B2 (en) Optical scanning observation apparatus having variable sampling time, and method and computer readable storage device
US9594238B2 (en) Aberration correction device and laser microscope
JP6265898B2 (ja) 収差補正光学ユニット及びレーザー顕微鏡
JP6234105B2 (ja) 超解像顕微鏡
US20200249168A1 (en) SCAPE Microscopy with Phase Modulating Element and Image Reconstruction
US11994687B2 (en) Meta-optics for virtual reality and augmented reality systems
KR20040012971A (ko) 레이저 반점을 감소시키기 위한 방법, 장치 및 확산기
CN107430264A (zh) 用于试样的光片显微镜检测的方法和装置
JP7481351B2 (ja) 波面解析装置、蛍光顕微鏡画像化システムおよび対象を顕微鏡画像化する方法
US10466458B2 (en) Image acquisition device, image acquisition method, and spatial light modulation unit
US11885947B2 (en) Lattice light sheet microscope and method for tiling lattice light sheet in lattice light sheet microscope
CN110520779B (zh) 像差校正方法和光学装置
KR20090018579A (ko) 화상 형성 장치
WO2025178907A1 (fr) Procédés et appareil de décalage latéral d'images grand champ
CN107209360B (zh) 图像取得装置以及图像取得方法
US20250123475A1 (en) Microscope device and data generation method
Booth et al. Adaptive optics for microscopy
JP6959745B2 (ja) 光学装置および眼科装置
TWI442132B (zh) 相位調變元件、可切換２ｄ／３ｄ的顯示裝置、微透鏡陣列、３ｄ顯示裝置與背光模組
US12366672B2 (en) Optical system and corresponding optical method
US12287471B2 (en) Chromatic light sheet microscope
Saladrigas et al. Wobulation using a tunable electrowetting prism applied to structured illumination microscopy

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application

Ref document number: 25758406

Country of ref document: EP

Kind code of ref document: A1