Interferometric time-stretch microscopy for ultrafast quantitative cellular and tissue imaging at 1 μm

Area of Science:

• Biomedical optics
• Microscopy
• Digital pathology

Background:

• Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) offers label-free biological specimen characterization.
• Current QPI speed limitations hinder high-throughput applications and big-data analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate an ultrafast QPI technique.
• To overcome the speed limitations of conventional QPI systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of an interferometric time-stretch (iTS) microscopy system operating in the 1-μm wavelength window.
• Implementation of time-stretch operation for high-speed line-scan imaging (>20 MHz).

Main Results:

• Achieved ultrafast QPI of fixed cells and tissue sections.
• Demonstrated imaging of flowing cells at speeds up to 8 m/s.
• Obtained quantitative morphological information with nanometer precision.

Conclusions:

• iTS microscopy provides a significant speed enhancement for QPI.
• Potential applications include high-throughput cellular assays, imaging flow cytometry, and digital pathology with refractometric tissue imaging.