Wide Field-of-view Microscopes and Endoscopes for Time-lapse Imaging and High-throughput Screening

Wide field-of-view (FOV) microscopy is of high importance to biological research and clinical diagnosis where a high-throughput screening of samples is needed. This thesis presents the development of several novel wide FOV imaging technologies and demonstrates their capabilities in longitudinal imaging of living organisms, on the scale of viral plaques to live cells and tissues.

The ePetri Dish is a wide FOV on-chip bright-field microscope. Here we applied an ePetri platform for plaque analysis of murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1). The ePetri offers the ability to dynamically track plaques at the individual cell death event level over a wide FOV of 6 mm × 4 mm at 30 min intervals. A density-based clustering algorithm is used to analyze the spatial-temporal distribution of cell death events to identify plaques at their earliest stages. We also demonstrate the capabilities of the ePetri in viral titer count and dynamically monitoring plaque formation, growth, and the influence of antiviral drugs.

We developed another wide FOV imaging technique, the Talbot microscope, for the fluorescence imaging of live cells. The Talbot microscope takes advantage of the Talbot effect and can generate a focal spot array to scan the fluorescence samples directly on-chip. It has a resolution of 1.2 μm and a FOV of ~13 mm². We further upgraded the Talbot microscope for the long-term time-lapse fluorescence imaging of live cell cultures, and analyzed the cells’ dynamic response to an anticancer drug.

We present two wide FOV endoscopes for tissue imaging, named the AnCam and the PanCam. The AnCam is based on the contact image sensor (CIS) technology, and can scan the whole anal canal within 10 seconds with a resolution of 89 μm, a maximum FOV of 100 mm × 120 mm, and a depth-of-field (DOF) of 0.65 mm. We also demonstrate the performance of the AnCam in whole anal canal imaging in both animal models and real patients. In addition to this, the PanCam is based on a smartphone platform integrated with a panoramic annular lens (PAL), and can capture a FOV of 18 mm × 120 mm in a single shot with a resolution of 100─140 μm. In this work we demonstrate the PanCam’s performance in imaging a stained tissue sample.

Lau cavity and phase locking of laser arrays

The Lau cavity is the self-imaging cavity with a phase corrector under the Lau reimaging condition. The author proposes the use of the Lau cavity to utilize both the Talbot and the Lau effects for phase locking one-dimensional and two-dimensional diode-laser arrays into a single-lobe coherent beam. Analyses on the self-reproducing of a coherent lasing field and the reimaging of initial incoherent radiation are given.

Generation of near-field hexagonal array illumination with a phase grating

A hexagonal array not only is a nature-preferred pattern but also is widely used in optoelectronical materials and devices. We report a simple method of hexagonal array illumination based on the Talbot effect that has a theoretical efficiency of 100%. An experimental efficiency of 90.6% with a binary phase (0, pi) hexagonal grating is given. This method should be highly interesting for applications of hexagonal array illumination in optical devices as well as in other hexagonal cells. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.

Wave-front analysis method of circular aperture sampling for collimation testing

A new type of wave-front analysis method for the collimation testing of laser beams is proposed. A concept of wave-front height is defined, and, on this basis, the wave-front analysis method of circular aperture sampling is introduced. The wave-front height of the tested noncollimated wave can be estimated from the distance between two identical fiducial diffraction planes of the sampled wave, and then the divergence is determined. The design is detailed, and the experiment is demonstrated. The principle and experiment results of the method are presented. Owing to the simplicity of the method and its low cost, it is a promising method for checking the collimation of a laser beam with a large divergence. © 2005 Optical Society of America.

二维斜周期阵列的分数泰伯效应

对振幅型二维斜周期阵列分数泰伯效应的研究，可以为设计和制作新型阵列发生器提供必要的理论依据。通过坐标的旋转与倾斜描述二维振幅型斜周期阵列，根据菲涅耳变换公式在理论上研究这类斜周期阵列的自成像效应，并进一步讨论了分数泰伯距离处像场的振幅分布与相位分布，给出了具体的相位计算公式。以60。斜交周期菱形阵列为例，模拟计算了它们在各自分数泰伯距离处的像，模拟计算的结果与数学公式推导的结果一致。并简单讨论了利用这种周期结构，设计和制作新型阵列发生器的可行性。另外，还对二维斜周期菱形阵列与正交周期方形阵列在压缩比例和光

Microoptical research in Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics

This paper summarized the recent research results of Changhe Zhou's group of Information Optics Lab in Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM). The first is about the Talbot self-imaging research. We have found the symmetry rule, the regular-rearranged neighboring phase difference rule and the prime-number decamping rule, which is briefly summarized in a recent educational publication of Optics and Photonics News, pp.46-50, November 2004. The second is about four novel microoptical gratings designed and fabricated in SIOM. The third is about the design and fabrication of novel supperresolution phase plates for beam shaping and possible use in optical storage. The fourth is to develop novel femtosecond laser information processing techniques by incorporating microoptical elements, for example, use of a pair of reflective Dammann gratings for splitting the femtosecond laser pulses. The most attractive feature of this approach is that the conventional beam splitter is avoided. The conventional beam splitter would introduce the unequal dispersion due to the broadband spectrum of ultrashort laser pulses, which will affect the splitting result. We implemented the Dammann splitting apparatus by using two-layered reflective Dammann gratings, which generates the almost same array without angular dispersion. We believe that our device is highly interesting for splitting femtosecond laser pulses.

Experimental study of the FemtoTalbot effect

Experimental investigation of Talbot self-imaging effect of an amplitude grating under illumination of femtosecond laser pulse -- the FemtoTalbot effect is reported. Theoretical analyzed results show that Talbot images under illumination of femtosecond laser pulses are not the same as that under continuous wave illumination. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis. We believe that the experimental investigation of the FemtoTalbot effect is highly interesting for the enormous potential applications of Talbot effect.

利用脉冲重复率倍增和时域泰伯效应实现毫米波脉冲的产生

我们提出了一种新颖的利用脉冲重复率倍增和时域泰伯效应实现毫米波脉冲信号产生的光学方法。在我们的方案中，一个级联的马赫振德干涉仪被用来实现脉冲重复率倍增，一个线性的啁啾光纤光栅被用来实现时域泰伯效应。文中对这种方法的基本理论进行了分析，并给出了相应的数值模拟的结果。研究结果显示这种灵活的毫米波脉冲信号产生的方案在未来的宽带的Radio over Fiber技术将有一个很好的潜在的应用。

Phase interpretation for polarization-dependent near-field images of high-density gratings

It has been described that the near-field images of a high-density grating at the half self-imaging distance could be different for TE and TM polarization states. We propose that the phases of the diffraction orders play an important role in such polarization dependence. The view is verified through the coincidence of the numerical result of finite-difference time-domain method and the reconstructed results from the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. Field distributions of TE and TM polarizations are given numerically for a grating with period d = 2.3 lambda, which are verified through experiments with the scanning near-field optical microscopy technique. The concept of phase interpretation not only explains the polarization dependence at the half self-imaging distance of gratings with a physical view, but also, it could be widely used to describe the near-field diffraction of a variety of periodic diffractive optical elements whose feature size comparable to the wavelength. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.