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Projekt Druckansicht

OptoFluidische Adaptive Optik (OFAO)

Fachliche Zuordnung Mikrosysteme
Elektronische Halbleiter, Bauelemente und Schaltungen, Integrierte Systeme, Sensorik, Theoretische Elektrotechnik
Optik, Quantenoptik und Physik der Atome, Moleküle und Plasmen
Förderung Förderung von 2016 bis 2021
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 274458620
 
Erstellungsjahr 2019

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

A wide variety of life science microscopy methods, both in confocal and full-field modalities, have adapted adaptive optics (AO) for the compensation of sample and/or system induced phase aberrations, leading to enhanced resolution as well as contrast, particularly for deep tissue imaging. However, widespread adoption AO microscopy is severely hindered by the prohibitive cost and complexity of conventional methods, in particular by the limitations imposed by reflective wavefront modulation using deformable mirrors. Optofluidic Adaptive Optics (OFAO) aimed to develop innovative hardware and software to address this crucial problem, and ultimately pave the way for objective-integrated AO microscopy. The core innovation of OFAO is a highly miniaturized two-dimensionally actuated optofluidic transmissive wavefront modulator. The device comprises a cavity sealed by a flexible polymeric membrane on one side, and a rigid transparent substrate on the other. An array of 37 individually addressable transparent thin-film ITO electrodes are patterned on to the borosilicate substrate, covering the 10 mm diameter optical aperture. Depending on the requirements of the target application, the total electrode number and their spatial distribution (e.g. hexagonal or keystone) are easily adaptable. To render the actuators optically passive, the entire structure is constructed from transparent materials. Since the actuation is electrostatic, the device behavior is strongly linear and essentially hysteresis-free. Compared to its counterparts, the optofluidic phase modulator uniquely combines: • Transmissive/refractive operation, • Wavelength and polarization independent, high-efficiency correction,• High-fidelity correction including spherical aberration,• Ultra-miniaturized dimensions, • Linear and hysteresis-free operation,• Cost-efficient batch manufacturing. To exploit these unique combination of features to the fullest, OFAO has devised a new optimizationbased open-loop control scheme tailored particularly for the modulator. Combined with customdeveloped driving electronics, it demonstrated real-time and accurate reproduction of target wavefront shapes. Very high fidelity reconstruction of Zernike modes up to the 5th radial order is demonstrated. In its final stage, OFAO also realized an in-line adaptive optics fluorescence microscope featuring the optofluidic refractive phase modulator at its pupil plane to correct for system and sample induced optical aberrations. To eliminate the need for a wavefront sensor, a modal decomposition based sensorless wavefront estimation algorithm was employed. Using this microscope, effective image improvement through the correction of both known/test and arbitrary aberrations have been demonstrated on artificial as well as biological samples. Building upon the prior expertise of both its PI and the laboratory within which it was carried out, OFAO has yielded a complete and innovative set of hardware and software tools for adaptive microscopy that can also be adapted to wide range of beam shaping applications.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

Zusatzinformationen

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