SUPER-RESOLUTION LINE SCANNING CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY WITH PUPIL FILTERING

SUPER-RESOLUTION LINE SCANNING CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY WITH PUPIL FILTERING ABSTRACT In order to circumvent the limitations imposed by the diffraction effects on the resolution of line scan confocal microscopy (LSCM) systems, super-resolution by pupil filtering (PF) is proposed. It is a far field technique that uses the principles of Fourier optics to alter the probing light beam structure for 'tailoring' the probing line spread function (LSF) directly and, consequently, the confocal point spread function (PSF) of the system. In this technique, a spatial filter is arranged in the pupil of the imaging system. The invention discloses a number of exemplary embodiments of single-channel and multiplexed LSCM systems that comprise PFs, to realize the techniques of both super-resolution confocal and photon reassignment (PRA) microscopy, capable of resolving sample details fare below the Abbe diffraction limit. A pupil filter may be fabricated as a strip shaped mask of optical material deposited on a glass substrate that is arranged across the pupil center. Complex transmissivity of the mask is a one-dimensional function of its length, providing spatial modulation of probe beamlets, which, being focused with an objective lens, generate in a microscope object plane line spread functions with narrowed central lobes of intensity distribution. Examples of binary pupil filters are disclosed. 1 CA 3065917 2019-12-23