Ichiro Ishimaru

Proposal of one-shot-type spectroscopic-tomography for non-invasive medical-measurement

The one-shot-type spectroscopic-tomography is proposed to develop the medical-patient-condition monitoring systems. The optical-setup is configured with the relative-inclined phase-shifter for improving the time resolution and the phase-shift array for improving visibility. We obtained the line-spectroscopic imaging and could recognize the Hg bright-line-spectrum that is a component of the light-source. The realization of the optical stethoscope for early diagnosis of cancer can be expected by obtaining the 2-dimensional spectroscopic distribution with rotating interferometer.

Ultraminiature one-shot Fourier-spectroscopic tomography

Abstract. We propose one-shot Fourier-spectroscopic tomography as a method of ultraminiature spectroscopic imaging. The apparatus used in this technique consists solely of a glass slab with a portion of its surface polished at a certain inclination angle—a device we term a relative-inclination phase shifter—simply mounted on an infinite-distance-corrected optical imaging system. For this reason, the system may be ultraminiaturized to sizes on the order of a few tens of millimeters. Moreover, because our technique uses a near-common-path wavefront-division phase-shift interferometer and has absolutely no need for a mechanical drive unit, it is highly robust against mechanical vibrations. In addition, because the proposed technique uses Fourier-transform spectroscopy, it offers highly efficient light utilization and an outstanding signal-to-noise ratio compared to devices that incorporate distributed or hyperspectral acousto-optical tunable filters. The interferogram, which is a pattern formed by interference of waves at all wavelengths, reflects the spatial variation in the intensity of the interference depending on the magnitude of the phase shift. We first discuss the design of the phase shifter and the results of tests to validate the principles underlying one-shot Fourier-spectroscopic tomography. We then report the results of one-dimensional spectroscopic imaging using this technique.

Enhanced interference-pattern visibility using multislit optical superposition method for imaging-type two-dimensional Fourier spectroscopy.

A solution is found for the problem of phase cancellation between adjacent bright points in wavefront-division phase-shift interferometry. To this end, a design is proposed that optimizes the visibility of the interference pattern from multiple slits. The method is explained in terms of Fraunhofer diffraction and convolution imaging. Optical simulations verify the technique. The final design can be calculated using a simple equation.

Wide-field spectroscopic imaging of biological-substance distributions on entire faces by measuring middle infrared lights emitted from human bodies itself

We are aiming at the realization of the measurement technology for the biological-substance distributions, such as sebum, on entire faces at the daily-life environment. We proposed the imaging-type 2-dimensional Fourier spectroscopy [1] that is the palmtop-size portable measurement apparatus and has the strong robustness for mechanical vibrations. And the proposed method can measure the wide-field 2-dimensional middle-infrared spectroscopic-imaging of radiation lights emitted from human bodies itself without light sources. In the proposed method, we install the phase-shifter, that can give an arbitrary phase difference for the half-flux of objective beams, at the optical Fourier transform plane of the infinity corrected optical system. The near-common-path interferometer that is a phase-shift interferometer between objective beams can be realized. In this proposed method, the emitted rays from each single-bright-point on measurement surfaces can interfere with each other. Thus, even if the middle infrared-lights from human bodies are the spatially incoherent light, we can acquire the interferograms at each pixel on an imaging array-device in accordance with the amount of phase shift as the 2-dimensional image-intensity changes. We demonstrated the feasibility of the middle infrared spectroscopic imaging of whole human faces without active illuminations.

Quantitative measurement of biological substances in daily-life environment with the little-finger-size one-shot spectroscopic tomography

In daily-life environment, the quantitative measurement of biological substances, such as the blood glucose level in the human skin, is strongly required to realize the non-invasive healthcare apparatus. Fourier-spectroscopic-tomography of the little-finger-size with high time-resolution and with the strong robustness for mechanical vibrations is proposed. The proposed method is a kind of near-common-path interferometer with spatial phase-shift method. We install the transmission-type relative-inclined phase-shifter on the optical Fourier transform plane of the infinity corrected optical system. The phase shifter is constructed with the cuboid and wedge prisms to give the relative phase-shift spatially between each half-flux of the objective beams. The interferograms from each single-bright-point on an objective surface in a line are formed as fringe patterns on 2-dimensional imaging array devices. And because the proposed method is based on the imaging optics, only emitted rays from a focal plane can contribute forming of interferograms. Thus, the measurement plane can be limited onto the focal plane only. From the spectroscopic tomography, only at a localized vessel area in human skins, we can get the pinpointed near-infrared spectroscopic data. And we can expect the improvement of the determination precision, because a Fourier spectroscopic-character is acquired from multiple intensity data in accordance with amount of phase-shift. From the statistical point of view, the gradation of detector is improved with the square root of sample number, based on t-distribution. We constructed the statistical model to assure the determination accuracy, and demonstrated the feasibility of the glucose sensor using liquid cells.

Nano-level 3-D measurement system using 3-wavelength laser light interference

To improve the productivity of very large scale of LSIs or large LCD panels, the nano-level measurement to inspect the LSIs is required. To meet with these requirements, a nano-level 3D shape extraction method has been introduced and the measurement results are described. To extract a nano-level 3D shape, the method using laser interference images is effective. Interference image is produced by light reflected by LSI and by reference mirror. At this time, if the position of reference light is changed at regular intervals, the brightness of same coordinate of interference images change like a sine wave. When position heights of LSI differ between two coordinates, the brightness of interference image differs and the phases of brightness pattern differ according to height between each pixel. And combining with different wavelength laser lights, different brightness is able to measure more than one wavelength. Look-up table method is used to combine the multi-wavelength laser light measurement. The experiment results show the method is able to measure more than 10 um height with 10 run accuracy.

Wide-field mid-infrared hyperspectral imaging of adhesives using a bolometer camera

By combining a bolometer detector with an imaging-type interferometer, an inexpensive, easy-to-handle wide-field mid-infrared hyperspectral imaging apparatus was produced. We measured the distributions of four types of thin adhesive layers on an aluminium plate and analysed the results using correlation coefficients to visualise the distribution of various adhesives that cannot be discerned by the naked eye or conventional methods such as visible/near-infrared spectroscopic/fluorescent photography. The measurement wavelength range, obtained spectrum’s wavenumber resolution, and measurement time was 8–14 μm, about 9 cm−1, and about 30 s, respectively. Using conventional methods, adhesives could not be distinguished from the others. By using this method, we found that adhesives could be precisely distinguished by setting an appropriate threshold value for the correlation coefficient. Thus, our approach can accurately measure the spatial distribution of different types of adhesive that cannot be discriminated by conventional methods.

Measurement of the mid-infrared Fourier spectroscopic imaging of whole human face by portable apparatus (size: 50*50 mm, weight: 200 g)

In the daily living space, measurement of the biological-substance distributions such as sebum can be realized by the proposed method of imaging-type 2-dimensional Fourier spectroscopy. This method has the strong robustness for mechanical vibrations. So, the spectrometer (size: 50*50mm, weight: 200g) can be produced without anti-vibration mechanism. Moreover, the phase shifter is a core part of the spectrometer, and it is constructed by the low-price bimorph type actuator which is depending on the vibration control of the piezoceramic in proposed method. It is appropriate as the actuator of the phase shifter from the evaluation results of the actuator straightness and position accuracy in the midinfrared region. As we know, the Fourier spectroscopy has a high light utilization efficiency. Therefore, the low price microbolometer can be used as the imaging sensor. So, the low-price (10,000 U.S. dollars), compact and high portability spectrometer can be produced. Furthermore, the much higher position accuracy in the short wavelength region is requested as we know, the phase shift correction method has been proposed. In this paper, high performance evaluations of the portable spectroscopy apparatus have been discussed by using the CO2 laser spectroscopy results in the midinfrared region. Then, the phase shift correction method was explained. At the end, we demonstrated the feasibility of the mid-infrared imaging of whole human faces without active illuminations.

Nonstaining Blood Flow Imaging Using Optical Interference Due to Doppler Shift and Near-Infrared Imaging of Molecular Distribution in Developing Fish Egg Embryos

In the present study, we successfully obtained nonstaining blood flow images of a developing fish egg embryo using optical interference caused by the Doppler shift. The spectral distribution of light reflected by moving objects such as the heart and red cells was found to be different from that of the incident light because of the Doppler effect. Interference between different frequency components was observed in an interferogram through heterodyne interaction using an imaging-type two-dimensional Fourier spectroscopic system, and information on the intensities of the spectral components was obtained by Fourier transformation. Beat signals with specific frequencies due to the heart beating and blood flow of the fish egg embryo were detected. When the signals were plotted in two dimensions, the heart part and vessel flows were clearly visualized without staining. In addition, near-infrared (NIR) images were produced using absorbance spectra of the molecular vibrations of O-H and C-H groups included in water, hydrocarbons, and aliphatic compounds. Obtaining nonstaining blood flow images using heterodyne optical interference and images of molecular distribution using molecular vibrational information simultaneously manifests an exciting advance in NIR imaging.

Built-in hyperspectral camera for smartphone in visible, near-infrared and middle-infrared lights region (second report): sensitivity improvement of Fourier-spectroscopic imaging to detect diffuse reflection lights from internal human tissues for healthcare sensors

We proposed the snapshot-type Fourier spectroscopic imaging for smartphone that was mentioned in 1st. report in this conference. For spectroscopic components analysis, such as non-invasive blood glucose sensors, the diffuse reflection lights from internal human skins are very weak for conventional hyperspectral cameras, such as AOTF (Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter) type. Furthermore, it is well known that the spectral absorption of mid-infrared lights or Raman spectroscopy especially in long wavelength region is effective to distinguish specific biomedical components quantitatively, such as glucose concentration. But the main issue was that photon energies of middle infrared lights and light intensities of Raman scattering are extremely weak. For improving sensitivity of our spectroscopic imager, the wide-field-stop & beam-expansion method was proposed. Our line spectroscopic imager introduced a single slit for field stop on the conjugate objective plane. Obviously to increase detected light intensities, the wider slit width of the field stop makes light intensities higher, regardless of deterioration of spatial resolutions. Because our method is based on wavefront-division interferometry, it becomes problems that the wider width of single slit makes the diffraction angle narrower. This means that the narrower diameter of collimated objective beams deteriorates visibilities of interferograms. By installing the relative inclined phaseshifter onto optical Fourier transform plane of infinity corrected optical systems, the collimated half flux of objective beams derived from single-bright points on objective surface penetrate through the wedge prism and the cuboid glass respectively. These two beams interfere each other and form the infererogram as spatial fringe patterns. Thus, we installed concave-cylindrical lens between the wider slit and objective lens as a beam expander. We successfully obtained the spectroscopic characters of hemoglobin from reflected lights from human fingers.