Inhomogeneities in the refractive index of a biological microscopy sample can introduce phase aberrations, severely impairing the quality of images. Adaptive optics can be employed to correct for phase aberrations and improve image quality. However, conventional adaptive optics can only correct a single phase aberration for the whole field of view (isoplanatic correction) while, due to the highly heterogeneous nature of biological tissues, the sample induced aberrations in microscopy often vary throughout the field of view (anisoplanatic aberration), limiting significantly the effectiveness of adaptive optics. This paper reports on a new approach for aberration correction in laser scanning confocal microscopy, in which a spatial light modulator is used to generate multiple excitation points in the sample to simultaneously scan different portions of the field of view with completely independent correction, achieving anisoplanatic compensation of sample induced aberrations, in a significantly shorter time compared to sequential isoplanatic correction of multiple image subregions. The method was tested in whole Drosophila brains and in larval Zebrafish, each showing a dramatic improvement in resolution and sharpness when compared to conventional isoplanatic adaptive optics.

@en

In this work, we present a new confocal laser scanning microscope capable to perform sensorless wavefront optimization in real time. The device is a parallelized laser scanning microscope in which the excitation light is structured in a lattice of spots by a spatial light modulator, while a deformable mirror provides aberration correction and scanning. A binary DMD is positioned in an image plane of the detection optical path, acting as a dynamic array of reflective confocal pinholes, images by a high performance CMOS camera. A second camera detects images of the light rejected by the pinholes for sensorless aberration correction.@en

In life sciences, interest in the microscopic imaging of increasingly complex three dimensional samples, such as cell spheroids, zebrafish embryos, and in vivo applications in small animals, is growing quickly. Due to the increasing complexity of samples, more and more life scientists are considering the implementation of adaptive optics in their experimental setups. While several approaches to adaptive optics in microscopy have been reported, it is often difficult and confusing for the microscopist to choose from the array of techniques and equipment. In this poster presentation we offer a small guide to adaptive optics providing general guidelines for successful adaptive optics implementation.

@en

We report on a universal sample-independent sensorless adaptive optics method, based on modal optimization of the second moment of the fluorescence emission from a point-like excitation. Our method employs a sample-independent precalibration, performed only once for the particular system, to establish the direct relation between the image quality and the aberration. The method is potentially applicable to any form of microscopy with epifluorescence detection, including the practically important case of incoherent fluorescence emission from a three dimensional object, through minor hardware modifications. We have applied the technique successfully to a widefield epifluorescence microscope and to a multiaperture confocal microscope.

@en

The goal of this thesis, called Physical and Computational Approaches to Aberration Correction In Fluorescence Microscopy, concerns itself with the development of new techniques to control adaptive fluorescence microscopes, so that they can adapt and image with increased resolution, contrast and speed inside complex three-dimensional biological samples.@en

Three-dimensional microscopy suffers from sample-induced aberrations that reduce the resolution and lead to misinterpretations of the object distribution. In this paper, the resolution of a three-dimensional fluorescent microscope is significantly improved by introducing an amplitude diversity in the form of a binary amplitude mask positioned in several di erent orientations within the pupil, followed by computer processing of the diversity images. The method has proved to be fast, easy to implement, and cost-e ective in high-resolution imaging of casper fli:GFP zebrafish.@en

The light-sheet fluorescence microscopy is an excellent tool for the investigation of large three dimensional microscopy samples at the cellular level, however, the ability to resolve features is strongly affected by the presence of scattering and aberrations. These effects are two fold in light-sheet microscopy, as the illumination path providing the optical sectioning and the fluorescence detection path are both affected by the aberrations in different ways. To overcome these difficulties, we have developed hybrid adaptive optical and computational microscopy techniques to remove the effect of the aberrations in both the excitation and the fluorescence paths of these microscopes.@en

We present a new method for fast wavefront sensorless correction of phase aberrations in confocal microscopy, based on a physical model of the distribution of fluorescence light rejected by the pinhole. The method is described, and an experimental confirmation of the method is provided.@en

A methodology for retrieving the unknown object distribution and point-spread functions (PSFs) from a set of images acquired in the presence of temporal phase aberrations is presented in this paper. The method works by finding optimal complimentary linear filters for multi-frame deconvolution. The algorithm uses undemanding computational operations and few a priori, making it simple, fast and robust even at low signal-to-noise ratios. Results of numerical simulations and experimental tests are given as empirical proof, alongside comparisons with other algorithms found in the literature.

@en

Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy techniques commonly use deconvolution to remove the effect of the illumination beam shape on the image formation, reducing the effects of side lobes and increasing the contrast in three-dimensional imaging. Deconvolution requires knowledge of the optical transfer function of the system and can only be estimated or measured imperfectly. Furthermore, in biological samples the optical transfer function is degraded by the presence of phase aberrations, this implies that any a priori deconvolution applied to the sample will be to some degree incorrect since it does not account for this unknown phase error in the optical transfer function. By combining adaptive optics and computational processing in this microscope, it is shown that by introducing perturbations to the optical transfer function it is possible to estimate the object distribution and remove aberrations.

@en

By taking multiple input-output measurements, it is shown how to determine the input to an optical system that corrects unknown phase aberrations without interferometric measurements or online iterative optimization within a couple of seconds. It is shown to work in simulations and experiment. This technique may also be used to acquire the complex field in the pupil, hereby permitting a complex field image to be acquired. @en

The quality of fluorescence microscopy images is often impaired by the presence
of sample induced optical aberrations. Adaptive optical elements such as deformable mirrors or spatial light modulators can be used to correct aberrations. However, previously reported techniques either require special sample preparation, or time consuming optimization procedures for the correction of static aberrations. This paper reports a technique for optical sectioning fluorescence microscopy capable of correcting dynamic aberrations in any fluorescent sample during the acquisition. This is achieved by implementing adaptive optics in a non conventional confocal microscopy setup, with multiple programmable confocal apertures, in which out of focus light can be separately detected, and used to optimize the correction performance with a sampling frequency an order of magnitude faster than the imaging rate of the system. The
paper reports results comparing the correction performances to traditional image optimization algorithms, and demonstrates how the system can compensate for dynamic changes in the aberrations, such as those introduced during a focal stack acquisition though a thick sample.@en

Pupil filters, represented by binary phase modulation, have been applied to extend the field of view of a light-sheet fluorescence microscope. Optimization has been used, first numerically to calculate the optimum filter structure and then experimentally, to scale and align the numerically synthesized filter in the microscope. A significant practical extension of the field of view has been observed, making the reported approach a valuable tool on the path to wide-field light-sheet microscopy.@en

This proceeding reports early results in the development of a new technique for adaptive optics in confocal microscopy. The term adaptive optics refers to the branch of optics in which an active element in the optical system is used to correct inhomogeneities in the media through which light propagates. In its most classical form, mostly used in astronomical imaging, adaptive optics is achieved through a closed loop in which the actuators of a deformable mirror are driven by a wavefront sensor. This approach is severely limited in fluorescence microscopy, as the use of a wavefront sensor requires the presence of a bright, point like source in the field of view, a condition rarely satisfied in microscopy samples. Previously reported approaches to adaptive optics in fluorescence microscopy are therefore limited to the inclusion of fluorescent microspheres in the sample, to use as bright stars for wavefront sensors, or time consuming sensorless optimization procedures, requiring several seconds of optimization before the acquisition of a single image. We propose an alternative approach to the problem, implementing sensorless adaptive optics in a Programmable array microscope. A programmable array microscope is a microscope based on a digital micromirror device, in which the single elements of the micromirror act both as point sources and pinholes.@en

Aberrations, scattering and absorption degrade the performance light-sheet fluorescence microscopes (LSFM). An adaptive optics system to correct for these artefacts and to optimize the light-sheet illumination is presented. This system allows a higher axial resolution to be recovered over the field-of-view of the detection objective. It is standard selective plane illumination microscope (SPIM) configuration modified with the addition of a spatial light modulator (SLM) and a third objective for the detection of transmitted light. Optimization protocols use this transmission light allowing the extension the depth-of-field and correction of aberrations whilst retaining a thin optical section. @en

A high-resolution Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor has been used for coherent holographic imaging, by computer reconstruction and propagation of the complex field in a lensless imaging setup. The resolution of the images obtained with the experimental data is in a good agreement with the diffraction theory. Although a proper calibration with a reference beam improves the image quality, the method has a potential for reference-less holographic imaging with spatially coherent monochromatic and narrowband polychromatic sources in microscopy and imaging through turbulence.@en