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

Claim 16:
17. 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, (ii) not on the actuation-beam path, the optical sampling beam over the sample without scanning the optical actuation beam;
operating an optical beam shaping module located in an optical path between the second light source and the sample to shape the optical actuation beam into 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; and
using the first information to obtain second information of the mechanical properties of the sample, wherein the shaping comprises modifying an optical phase of the optical actuation beam along an axis.