Shuo Pang

Quantum dot-embedded microspheres for remote refractive index sensing

We present a refractometric sensor based on quantum dot-embedded polystyrene microspheres. Optical resonances within a microsphere, known as whispering-gallery modes (WGMs), produce narrow spectral peaks. For sensing applications, spectral shifts of these peaks are sensitive to changes in the local refractive index. In this work, two-photon excited luminescence from the quantum dots couples into several WGMs within the microresonator. By optimizing the detection area, the spectral visibility of the WGMs is improved. The spectral shifts are measured as the surrounding index of the refraction changes. The experimental sensitivity is about five times greater than that predicted by the Mie theory.

Fluorescence microscopy imaging with a Fresnel zone plate array based optofluidic microscope

We report the implementation of an on-chip microscope system, termed fluorescence optofluidic microscope (FOFM), which is capable of fluorescence microscopy imaging of samples in fluid media. The FOFM employs an array of Fresnel zone plates (FZP) to generate an array of focused light spots within a microfluidic channel. As a sample flows through the channel and across the array of focused light spots, the fluorescence emissions are collected by a filter-coated CMOS sensor, which serves as the channels floor. The collected data can then be processed to render fluorescence microscopy images at a resolution determined by the focused light spot size (experimentally measured as 0.65 μm FWHM). In our experiments, our established resolution was 1.0 μm due to Nyquist criterion consideration. As a demonstration, we show that such a system can be used to image the cell nuclei stained by Acridine Orange and cytoplasm labeled by Qtracker(®).

Structured illumination temporal compressive microscopy

We present a compressive video microscope based on structured illumination with incoherent light source. The source-side illumination coding scheme allows the emission photons being collected by the full aperture of the microscope objective, and thus is suitable for the fluorescence readout mode. A 2-step iterative reconstruction algorithm, termed BWISE, has been developed to address the mismatch between the illumination pattern size and the detector pixel size. Image sequences with a temporal compression ratio of 4:1 were demonstrated.

Wide and scalable field-of-view Talbot-grid-based fluorescence microscopy

Here we report a low-cost and simple wide field-of-view (FOV) on-chip fluorescence-imaging platform, termed fluorescence Talbot microscopy (FTM), which utilizes the Talbot self-imaging effect to enable efficient fluorescence imaging over a large and directly scalable FOV. The FTM prototype has a resolution of 1.2 μm and an FOV of 3.9 mm × 3.5 mm. We demonstrate the imaging capability of FTM on fluorescently labeled breast cancer cells (SK-BR-3) and human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK) cells expressing green fluorescent protein.

Wide field-of-view Talbot grid-based microscopy for multicolor fluorescence imaging.

The capability to perform multicolor, wide field-of-view (FOV) fluorescence microscopy imaging is important in screening and pathology applications. We developed a microscopic slide-imaging system that can achieve multicolor, wide FOV, fluorescence imaging based on the Talbot effect. In this system, a light-spot grid generated by the Talbot effect illuminates the sample. By tilting the excitation beam, the Talbot-focused spot scans across the sample. The images are reconstructed by collecting the fluorescence emissions that correspond to each focused spot with a relay optics arrangement. The prototype system achieved an FOV of 12 × 10 mm(2) at an acquisition time as fast as 23 s for one fluorescence channel. The resolution is fundamentally limited by spot size, with a demonstrated full-width at half-maximum spot diameter of 1.2 μm. The prototype was used to nimage green fluorescent beads, double-stained human breast cancer SK-BR-3 cells, Giardia lamblia cysts, and the Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. This imaging method is scalable and simple for implementation of high-speed wide FOV fluorescence microscopy.

Beyond the 1/Tp limit: two-photon-excited fluorescence using pulses as short as sub-10-fs.

Two-photon-excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation are characterized as a function of laser pulse duration as short as sub-10-fs. A comparative study is performed where pulse duration is varied by introducing dispersion, as reported previously, and by tailoring pulse spectral width and minimizing its time-bandwidth product (transform-limited pulses). Experimental data and calculations show that characterizing a two-photon signal with the two schemes to vary pulse duration measures different phenomena. Two-photon signal characterization using dispersion-broadened pulses measures only the effect of chirp on the pulse two-photon-excitation spectrum and is independent of molecular response. Transform-limited pulses are used to measure the dependence of two-photon signal generation on pulse duration. Calculations show that deviation from the 1T(p) relationship would be expected as the transform-limited pulse spectral width approaches the molecular two-photon absorption linewidth and exhibits asymptotic behavior for pulse spectral widths 10 times greater than the absorption linewidth. Experimental measurements are consistent with the predicted behavior. The impact of using ultrashort laser pulses on the performance characteristics of nonlinear optical microscopy is discussed.

High-speed compressive range imaging based on active illumination.

We report a compressive imaging method based on active illumination, which reconstructs a 3D scene at a frame rate beyond the acquisition speed limit of the camera. We have built an imaging prototype that projects temporally varying illumination pattern and demonstrated a joint reconstruction algorithm that iteratively retrieves both the range and high-temporal-frequency information from the 2D low-frame rate measurement. The reflectance and depth-map videos have been reconstructed at 1000 frames per second (fps) from the measurement captured at 200 fps. The range resolution is in agreement with the resolution calculated from the triangulation methods based on the same system geometry. We expect such an imaging method could become a simple solution to a wide range of applications, including industrial metrology, 3D printing, and vehicle navigations.

Complementary coded apertures for 4-dimensional x-ray coherent scatter imaging

X-ray scattering has played a key role in non-destructive materials characterization due to the material-specific coherent scattering signatures. In the current energy dispersive coherent scatter imaging systems, including selected volume tomography and coherent scatter computed tomography, each object voxel is measured at a single scatter angle, which suffers from slow acquisition time. The employment of coded apertures in x-ray scatter imaging systems improves the photon collection efficiency, making it promising for real time volumetric imaging and material identification. In this paper, we propose a volumetric x-ray scatter imaging system using a pair of complementary coded apertures: a coded aperture on the detector side introduces multiplexed measurement on an energy-sensitive detector array; a complementary source-side coded aperture selectively illuminates the object to decouple the ambiguity due to the increased parallelization for 4D imaging. The system yields the 1D coherent scattering form factor at each voxel in 3D. We demonstrate tomographic imaging and material identification with the system and achieve a spatial resolution ~1 cm and a normalized momentum transfer resolution, Δq/q, of 0.2.

Compressive high-speed stereo imaging

A compressive high-speed stereo imaging system is reported. The system is capable of reconstructing 3D videos at a frame rate 10 times higher than the sampling rate of the imaging sensors. An asymmetric configuration of stereo imaging system has been implemented by including a high-speed spatial modulator in one of the binocular views, and leaving the other view unchanged. We have developed a two-step reconstruction algorithm to recover the irradiance and depth information of the high-speed scene. The experimental results have demonstrated high-speed video reconstruction at 800fps from 80fps measurements. The reported compressive stereo imaging method does not require active illumination, offering a robust yet inexpensive solution to high-speed 3D imaging.

Talbot interferometry with curved quasi-periodic gratings: towards large field of view X-ray phase-contrast imaging.

X-ray phase-contrast imaging based on grating interferometry has become a common method due to its superior contrast in biological soft tissue imaging. The high sensitivity relies on the high-aspect ratio structures of the planar gratings, which prohibit the large field of view applications with a diverging X-ray source. Curved gratings allow a high X-ray flux for a wider angular range, but the interference fringes are only visible within ~10° range due to the geometrical mismatch with the commonly used flat array detectors. In this paper, we propose a design using a curved quasi-periodic grating for large field of view imaging with a flat detector array. Our scheme is numerically verified in the X-ray regime and experimentally verified in the visible optical regime. The interference fringe pattern is observed over 25°, with less than 10% of decrease in visibility in our experiments.