Patent ID: 11920930
Assignee: CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 10:
11. A method of quantifying mechanical properties of a sample, comprising:
operating a first light source emitting light in a first optical band of optical wavelengths to produce (i) a sampling beam that propagates along a sampling-beam path before optically interacting with the sample and (ii) a reference beam;
operating a second light source to produce an optical actuation beam, propagating along an actuation-beam path, at a second optical wavelength different from the wavelengths in the first band;
operating a phase-sensitive low-coherence optical interferometry device to obtain optical images, of the sample from optical interference of the sampling beam and the reference beam, in part by scanning, with a scanner that is (i) on the sampling-beam path and (ii) not on the actuation-beam path, the optical sampling beam over the sample without scanning the optical actuation beam;
modulating the optical actuation beam at a modulation frequency, intensity or power, using a modulation waveform;
operating an optical beam shaping module located in the actuation-beam path between the second light source and the sample to shape the optical actuation beam into a light-sheet;
directing the optical actuation beam shaped into the light-sheet to the sample to actuate mechanical movements of microparticle probes so that the optical images capture first information of the mechanical movements of the microparticle probes;
using the first information to obtain second information of the mechanical properties of the sample; and
modulating the optical actuation beam at a modulation frequency;
wherein modulation is performed using a modulation waveform, and wherein the first information includes an amplitude of movements of the microparticle probes and a phase shift of movements of the microparticle probes with respect to the modulation waveform.