Multi-slice ptychographic imaging with multistage coarse-to-fine reconstruction.

Area of Science:

• Optical imaging
• 3D reconstruction
• Materials science
• Biological sciences

Background:

• 3D imaging is crucial for material and biological sciences.
• Current 3D imaging methods face challenges with speed and complexity.
• Optical sectioning is essential for tomographic morphology studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, fast, and high-resolution 3D reconstruction method.
• To overcome limitations of existing 3D volumetric imaging techniques.
• To enable label-free dynamic imaging in scattering samples.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes a digital micromirror device (DMD) for structured illumination.
• Employs a multistage reconstruction algorithm for coarse-to-fine feature extraction.
• Requires a minimum of four intensity-only measurements for reconstruction.

Main Results:

• Achieved high-fidelity 3D tomography with increased reconstruction speed (at least 10x faster).
• Demonstrated robustness in experiments with resolution targets, unstained insects, and freely moving nematodes.
• Successfully reconstructed unstained Polyrhachis vicina Roger and freely moving C. elegans.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a significant advancement in 3D imaging speed and resolution.
• It is suitable for label-free dynamic imaging in challenging multiple-scattering samples.
• Potential applications span various scientific and technological fields requiring 3D structural information.