Fourier Lightfield Multiview Stereoscope for Large Field-of-View 3D Imaging in Microsurgical Settings

This work presents the Fourier Lightfield Multi-view Stereoscope (FiLM-Scope), a novel imaging device that combines concepts from Fourier Light Field Microscopy and Multi-view Stereo imaging to capture high-resolution 3D videos over large fields-of-view. The FiLM-Scope optical hardware consists of a multi-camera array, with 48 individual micro-cameras, placed behind a high-throughput primary lens. This allows the FiLM-Scope to simultaneously capture 48 unique 12.8 megapixel images of a 28 × 37 mm field-of-view, from unique angular perspectives over a 21° × 29° range, with down to 22 μm lateral resolution. We additionally describe a self-supervised algorithm to reconstruct 3D height maps from these images. Our approach demonstrates height accuracy down to 11 μm. To showcase the utility of our system, we perform tool tracking over the surface of an ex-vivo rat skull and visualize the 3D deformation in stretching human skin, with videos captured at up to 100 frames-per-second. The FiLM-Scope has the potential to improve 3D visualization in a range of micro-surgical settings.