Abstract

A significant challenge for in vivo imaging is to remove movement artifacts. These movements (typically due to either respiration and cardiac-related movement or surface chemical response) are normally limited to the axial direction, and hence features move in and out of the focal plane. This presents a real problem for high-resolution optically sectioned imaging techniques such as confocal and multiphoton microscopy. To overcome this we have developed an actively locked focus-tracking system based around a deformable membrane mirror. This has a significant advantage over more conventional focus-tracking techniques where the microscope objective is dithered, since the active element is not in direct, or indirect, contact with the sample. To examine the operational limits and to demonstrate possible applications for this form of focus locking, sample oscillation and movement are simulated for two different biological applications. We were able to track focus over a $400\mu \mathrm{m}$ range (limited by the range of the piezomounted objective) with a rms precision on the focal depth of $0.31\mu \mathrm{m}\pm 0.05\mu \mathrm{m}$.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

Dynamic closed-loop system for focus tracking using a spatial light modulator and a deformable membrane mirror

Amanda J. Wright, Brett A. Patterson, Simon P. Poland, John M. Girkin, Graham M. Gibson, and Miles J. Padgett
Opt. Express 14(1) 222-228 (2006)

Thermomechanical characterization of a membrane deformable mirror

Kathleen A. Morse, Stuart L. McHugh, and Jeff Fixler
Appl. Opt. 47(29) 5325-5329 (2008)

Doppler optical coherence tomography with a micro-electro-mechanical membrane mirror for high-speed dynamic focus tracking

Victor X. D. Yang, Youxin Mao, Beau A. Standish, Nigel R. Munce, Stephanie Chiu, Daina Burnes, Brian C. Wilson, I. Alex Vitkin, Phillip A. Himmer, and David L. Dickensheets
Opt. Lett. 31(9) 1262-1264 (2006)

Enhancement of laser performance using an intracavity deformable membrane mirror

Walter Lubeigt, Gareth Valentine, and David Burns
Opt. Express 16(15) 10943-10955 (2008)

Improved sectioning in a slit scanning confocal microscope

Vincent Poher, Gordon T. Kennedy, Hugh B. Manning, Dylan M. Owen, Haoxiang X. Zhang, Erdan Gu, Martin D. Dawson, Paul M. W. French, and Mark A. A. Neil
Opt. Lett. 33(16) 1813-1815 (2008)