Upstream a microscope objective lens, a polarization direction of a light beam is tilted with a first electro-optical deflector between a first polarization direction with which the light beam is deflected by a first polarization beam splitter by a first angle and a second polarization direction with which it is deflected by a second angle. With a second electro-optical deflector, the polarization direction of the light beam is tilted between a third polarization direction with which the light beam is deflected by a second polarization beam splitter by a third angle and a fourth polarization direction with which it is deflected by a fourth angle. By rotating the polarization direction of the light beam by means of the first and second electro-optical deflectors in a coordinated way the light beam is tilted about a fixed point in a pupil of the objective lens.

Subpixel line scanning. A slide scanning device comprises a plurality of line sensors (112a, 112b, 112c), each comprising a plurality of pixel sensors. Each line sensor is offset from an adjacent line sensor by a fraction of a length of each pixel sensor, and generates a line image of the same field of view at its respective offset. For each of a plurality of positions on a sample, a processor combines the line images of the same field of view, generated by the plurality of line sensors at their respective offsets, to produce a plurality of subpixels for each of at least a subset of pixels within the line images of the same field of view, and generates an up-sampled line image of the position comprising the plurality of subpixels. Then, the processor combines the up-sampled line images of each of the plurality of positions on the sample into an image.

A confocal scanner mounted on a microscope includes a linear light source configured to emit linear light, a linear detector including a linear detection unit detecting incident light for each line, and a moving mechanism configured to translationally move the linear light source and the linear detector with respect to the microscope. The linear light source and the linear detector are disposed so as to have a positional relationship in which the linear light source and the linear detector correspond to each other within an imaging surface at conjugate positions with respect to a focal plane of the microscope.

Apparatus and methods for measuring infrared absorption of a sample that includes delivering a pulse of infrared radiation to a region of the sample, delivering pulses of radiation of a shorter wavelength than infrared radiation to a sub-region within the region, and using one or more properties of the induced photoacoustic signals to create a signal indicative of infrared absorption of the sub-region of the sample.

Even if a generated wide-field image includes residual local misalignment, this charged particle microscope device can prompt for user input to correct such local misalignment, and can regenerate, on the basis of the user input, a wide-field image that includes little misalignment even in local areas of the overlap regions thereof. A charged particle microscope according to the present invention captures a plurality of images in such a way that each captured image has overlap regions that are to be overlapped with the overlap regions of captured images adjacent to that captured image, wherein an image processing unit: sets a pair of corresponding points in respective overlap regions of each two adjacent captured images; sets predetermined constraint conditions for each captured image; calculates the amounts of misalignment between the plurality of captured images on the basis of the set pairs of corresponding points and the set constraint conditions; connects the plurality of captured images to one another after correcting the misalignment between these captured images on the basis of the calculated amounts of misalignment, thereby generating a single wide-field image; calculates, for each of a plurality of local areas set in the overlap regions of each two adjacent captured images, a degree of reliability for the connection between these captured images; and notifies a user of either each found low reliability local area or the overlap region including that low reliability local area, as well as the set pairs of corresponding points and the set constraint conditions.

A mobile phone-based miniature microscopic image acquisition device, and image stitching and recognition methods are provided. The acquisition device comprises a support, wherein a mobile phone fixing table is provided on the support. A microscope head is provided below a camera of a mobile phone. A slide holder is provided below the microscope head, and an lighting source is provided below the slide holder. A scanning movement is performed between the slide holder and the microscope head along X and Y axes, so that images of a slide are acquired into the mobile phone. The slide sample images acquired into the mobile phone can be stitched and recognized, and can be uploaded to the cloud to be processed by cloud AI, thereby significantly improving the accuracy and efficiency of cell recognition, greatly reducing the medical cost, and ensuring more remote medical institutions can apply such technology for diagnosis.

An optical device may include an optical fiber having a fixed end and a free end a first actuator positioned at a actuator position between the fixed end and the free end and configured to apply a first force on the actuator position of the optical fiber such that a movement of the free end of the optical fiber in a first direction is caused, wherein the first direction is orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the optical fiber; and a deformable rod disposed adjacent to the optical fiber, and having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is connected to a first rod position of the optical fiber and the second end is connected to a second rod position of the optical fiber.

Disclosed herein are light sheet imaging systems for imaging fluorescent samples. Also disclosed herein are sample holder systems for high throughput light sheet imaging of multiple three-dimensional samples without user intervention. Further disclosed herein are automated image processing methods to identify and quantify fluorescent particles within three-dimensional image sets without user intervention or user bias.

Disclosed herein are systems for imaging of samples using an array of micro optical elements and methods of their use. In some embodiments, an optical chip comprising an array of micro optical elements moves relative to an imaging window and a detector in order to scan over a sample to produce an image. A focal plane can reside within a sample or on its surface during imaging. Detecting optics are used to detect back-emitted light collected by an array of micro optical elements that is generated by an illumination beam impinging on a sample. In some embodiments, an imaging system has a large field of view and a large optical chip such that an entire surface of a sample can be imaged quickly. In some embodiments, a sample is accessible by a user during imaging due to the sample being exposed while disposed on or over an imaging window.

By moving at least one of a culture container having a plurality of wells or an imaging optical system that forms an image of an observation target in each of the wells, an observation position in the culture container is scanned to observe the observation target. In a case where an auto-focus control for each observation position is performed, a start timing of the auto-focus control for each observation position is switched on the basis of a boundary portion between the adjacent wells in a scanning direction of the observation position.