According to some examples, an instrument for scanning a specimen on a specimen holder. The instrument includes a scanning stage for supporting the specimen, and a detector having a plurality of pixels. The scanning stage and the detector are movable relative to each other to move the specimen in a scan direction during a scan. At least some of the pixels of the detector are operable to collect light from different depths inside the specimen during the scan and generate corresponding image data. The instrument also includes a processor operable to perform MSIA on the image data to generate a 3D image of the specimen.

Methods, devices and systems for up to three-dimensional scanning of target regions at high magnification are disclosed.

A Multi-Z confocal microscopy system can simultaneously record from multiple Z-sections, and thus performs high speed volumetric imaging. An illumination line can be formed by under-filling the illumination beam in the aperture of the microscope objective. The illumination line extends in the Z dimension into the target sample to be imaged and an X-Y scanning mechanism can be used to scan the illumination line over the sample. The detection signal emanating from the scanned sample can be collected through the full numerical aperture of the microscope objective and directed to a detector subsystem. The detector subsystem includes an array of reflecting pinhole detectors and each reflecting pinhole detector is configured to image a volume at a different depth in the sample. This configuration enables reflecting pinhole detector array to image more than one depth volume at the same time.

A system for quantitative differential phase contrast microscopy with isotropic transfer function utilizes a modulation mechanism to create a detection light field having a radial or other axial orientation of optical intensity gradient or other distribution. A condenser generates an off-axis light field to project onto an object under examination, thereby generating an object light field, which is then guided to an image capturing device through an objective lens for capturing images. A differential phase contrast algorithm is applied to the images for obtaining a phase, thereby a depth information corresponding to the phase can be obtained to reconstruct the surface profile of the object.

A sample observation device includes: an emission optical system that emits planar light to a sample; a scanning unit that scans the sample in one direction so as to pass through an emission surface of the planar light; an imaging optical system that has an observation axis inclined with respect to the emission surface and forms an image of observation light generated in the sample by emission of the planar light; an image acquisition unit that acquires image data corresponding to an optical image of the observation light formed by the imaging optical system; and an image generation unit that generates observation image data of the sample based on the image data acquired by the image acquisition unit. The imaging optical system has a non-axisymmetric optical element that bends a light beam on one axis of the observation light but does not bend a light beam on the other axis perpendicular to the one axis.

Imaging systems and methods with scattering to reduce source auto-fluorescence and improve uniformity. In some embodiments, the system may include a plurality of trans-illumination light sources configured to irradiate an examination region with different colors of trans-illumination light, while a same diffuser is present in each optical path from the trans-illumination light sources to the examination region. The system also may comprise an excitation light source configured to irradiate the examination region with excitation light. The system may be configured to irradiate the examination region with each of the trans-illumination light sources and, optionally, with the excitation light source, without moving parts in any of the optical paths from the trans-illumination light sources. The system further may comprise an image detector configured to detect grayscale images of the examination region, and a processor configured to create a color trans-illumination image from grayscale images.

A super-resolution lattice light field microscopic imaging system includes: a microscope configured to magnify a sample and image the sample onto a first image plane of the microscope; a first relay lens configured to match a numerical aperture of an objective with that of a microlens array; a 2D scanning galvo configured to rotate an angle of a light path in the frequency domain plane; an illuminating system configured to provide uniform illumination on the microlens array to generate SIM pattern illumination; the microlens array, configured to modulate a light beam with a preset angle to a target spatial position at a back focal plane of the microlens array to obtain a modulated image; an image sensor configured to record the modulated image; and a reconstruction module configured to reconstruct a 3D structure of the sample based on the modulated image.

A Scanning Time-Resolved Emission (S-TRE) microscope or system includes an optical system configured to collect light from emissions of light generated by a device under test (DUT). A scanning system is configured to permit the emissions of light to be collected from positions across the DUT in accordance with a scan pattern. A timing photodetector is configured to detect a single photon or photons of the emissions of light from the particular positions across the DUT such that the emissions of light are correlated to the positions to create a time-dependent map of the emissions of light across the DUT. The scanning system is configured to updated the time-dependent map of the emissions based on a transformation of an underlying time-resolved waveform at certain intervals and corresponding to at least one location and generating a pseudo image of the DUT.

This invention belongs to the microscopic imaging technology category. This intention provides a microscopic imaging of the method and apparatus. The microscopic imaging method includes: illuminating the sample with illumination radiation to stimulate the detection radiation; capturing the detection radiation from the sample; capturing the s, with the intensity data of the detection radiation from the sample; applying the calibration algorithm to the captured image(s) to acquire the processed second image; the resolution of the processed second image is higher than the acquired first image. The apparatus for microscopic imaging is configured to be able to perform the method. This invention is able to obtain higher resolution images, and can be suitable for fast dynamic super-resolution microscopic imaging.

A sample observation device includes: an emission optical system that emits planar light to a sample; a scanning unit that scans the sample in one direction so as to pass through an emission surface of the planar light; an imaging optical system that has an observation axis inclined with respect to the emission surface and forms an image of observation light generated in the sample by emission of the planar light; an image acquisition unit that acquires image data corresponding to an optical image of the observation light formed by the imaging optical system; and an image generation unit that generates observation image data of the sample based on the image data acquired by the image acquisition unit. The imaging optical system has a non-axisymmetric optical element that bends a light beam on one axis of the observation light but does not bend a light beam on the other axis perpendicular to the one axis.