Lensless fluorescent on-chip microscopy using a fiber-optic taper
Citation
Coskun, A. F., Sencan, I., Su, T.-W., & Ozcan, A. (2011). Lensless Fluorescent On-Chip Microscopy using a Fiber-Optic Taper. In 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (pp. 5981–5984). IEEE.
Keywords
- Lensfree microscopy
- fluorescent imaging
- on-chip microscopy
- fiber-optic faceplate
- compressive sampling
- Giardia Muris cysts
Brief
Lensfree on-chip fluorescent microscopy uses a tapered fiber-optic faceplate to magnify and deliver images of fluorescent objects to a detector array for analysis of micro-objects, such as Giardia Muris cysts, and micro-fluidic devices.
Summary
This article, "A Lensless Fluorescent On-Chip Microscopy using a Fiber-Optic Taper," from the 33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS (2011), introduces a novel lensless on-chip fluorescent microscopy platform. The authors, Ahmet F. Coskun, Ikbal Sencan, Ting-Wei Su, and Aydogan Ozcan, highlight the platform's ability to:- Image fluorescently labeled cells over a wide field of view (FOV) of ~60 mm2.
- Achieve high spatial resolution of <4 µm.
- Utilizes a tapered fiber-optic faceplate with a higher density of waveguides on the top facet for enhanced light collection.
- Employs an incoherent light source (e.g., LED) for excitation, simplifying the system's complexity.
- Implements total internal reflection to eliminate excitation light and enhance the signal-to-noise ratio.
- Adopts a compressive sampling-based decoding algorithm to improve spatial resolution from lensless images.
- Cytometry
- Rare cell imaging
- Microarray research
- Rapid screening of waterborne parasites
The article emphasizes that this lensless on-chip microscopy platform offers a compact, cost-effective, and high-throughput alternative to conventional lens-based microscopes, particularly valuable for diverse biological and medical applications.