Full-aperture extended-depth oblique plane microscopy through dynamic remote focusing.

Area of Science:

• Microscopy
• Optical Imaging
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Conventional oblique plane microscopy (OPM) systems utilize reprojection, which limits the effective aperture.
• This aperture limitation reduces imaging efficiency and resolution.
• Achieving large apertures typically requires specialized, custom optics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a feasible OPM system that bypasses conventional reprojection.
• To maintain the full aperture of the primary objective lens.
• To improve OPM performance and accessibility.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a deformable lens-based remote focusing system.
• Synchronized the deformable lens with the rolling shutter of a CMOS detector.
• Replaced the traditional reprojection setup with this novel remote focusing approach.

Main Results:

• The system successfully imaged microbeads, prepared slides, and zebrafish embryos.
• Achieved superior resolution and pixel throughput compared to OPM with cropped apertures.
• Performance was comparable to OPM systems using custom optical components.

Conclusions:

• Presented an easily reproducible OPM imaging method.
• Eliminated the conventional reprojection setup in OPM.
• Enabled full exploitation of the objective's aperture for improved imaging.