Patent Description:
In the field of biological microscopy, wide field and confocal microscopy are the most commonly known and applied techniques. Wide field microscopy illuminates the whole sample and uses an optical sensor like a camera to acquire the signal. Confocal microscopy uses a beam to scan the sample and detects the emitted signal using a single detector while scanning. Using a pinhole in the imaging plane, confocal microscopes provide 3D optical sectioning. This allows imaging 3D samples by imaging them plane by plane.

Light sheet microscopy has become a very important tool in biological microscopy by obtaining wide-field detection while having 3D optical sectioning. The light sheet microscopy, also named Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) essentially comprises emitting a light of a specific frequency in the form of a sheet into a target entity like a cell or plurality of cells like tissues, organs or model organisms. The observing entity, like an optical sensor, is typically positioned in a direction perpendicular to the light sheet plane (i.e. has an observation direction that is external to the plane of the light sheet) and can view the light emitted from the target entity when the light sheet passes this entity. By moving the target entity relative to the light sheet, it is possible to observe the entity plane by plane.

Different light sources have been disclosed in the past that emit light in the form of a plane.

For example, <CIT> discloses an apparatus generating a line of light that includes a light source, such as an incandescent lamp. A condensing lens is interposed between the lamp and the receiving end of an optical fiber cable for applying the light of the lamp to the cable. The discharge end of the optical fiber cable is flattened into a linear configuration, one or a few fibers thick. The discharge end of the optical fiber cable is coupled to a light beam projector containing a lens focusing and projecting a plane of light. The plane of light forms a line when applied to a patient or other object. A plurality of optical fiber cables and projectors may be coupled to the lamp to provide a pattern of lines.

Furthermore, <CIT> discusses a surgical illuminator comprising a plurality of elongated, flexible, optical fibers having proximal and distal end portions and a strip of tape for retaining at least the distal end portions of the optical fibers in a ribbon-like pattern. A connector is coupled to the proximal end portions of the optical fibers, and the connector is adapted to optically couple the optical fibers to a light source. The tape has adhesive on both of its faces so that the tape can also be adhered to a surgical instrument to provide illumination from the light source.

Additionally, <CIT> discloses an approach for chemical imaging. This document relates to a system for producing a spatially accurate wavelength-resolved image of a sample from photons scattered from the sample, comprising an optical lens; a first optical fiber bundle of M fibers; a second optical fiber bundle of N fibers; an optical fiber switch; and a charge coupled device, wherein the image comprises plural sub-images, and wherein each sub-image is formed from photons scattered from a predetermined two spatial dimension portion of the sample, and wherein the scattered photons forming each sub-image have a predetermined wavelength different from a predetermined wavelength of scattered photons forming the other sub-images, and wherein the scattered photons for each sub-image are collected substantially simultaneously.

Moreover, <CIT> discloses a chromatic confocal microscope system and signal process method to utilize a first optical fiber module for modulating a light into a detecting light passing through a chromatic dispersion objective and thereby forming a plurality of chromatic dispersion lights to project onto an object. A second optical fiber module conjugated with the first optical fiber module receives a reflected object light for forming a filtered light, which is split into two filtered lights detected by two color sensing units for generating two sets of RGB intensity signals, wherein one set of RGB intensity signals is adjusted relative to the other set of RGB intensity signals. Then two sets of RGB intensity signals are calculated for obtaining a maximum ratio factor. Finally, according to the maximum ratio factor and a depth relation curve, the surface profile of the object can be reconstructed.

Using light sheet microscopy, therefore, allows for 3D imaging of biological processes.

For performing light sheet microscopy, it is necessary that the light sheet has a comparably small thickness (in the region of a few micrometers) and illumination uniformity.

At present, for creating the light sheet, monochromatic light sources in the form of lasers are used. Those lasers have provided both spatial and temporal coherence. In this context, point sources like the above-mentioned lasers are considered to be sources that essentially have no extension, which may be called to have a dimension of zero, thereby realizing a spatially coherent source of light. It is clear that also the region from which a laser emits laser light is not of zero dimension or no extension but has a very small extension. This extension, however, is significantly smaller than what will be considered in the following as "extended sources". Such sources are, for example, LEDs and other lamps that emit their light (for example also monochromatic light) from a region having usually extension in at least two dimensions. The "extended sources" thus have spatial extension and are thus spatially non-coherent sources.

However, for performing light sheet microscopy, it is only necessary to generate a light sheet having small thickness and not necessarily requiring coherence. Therefore, for generating a light sheet, a source having an extension in only one dimension is needed. Furthermore, though the light sheet microscopy when using fluorescence emission is preferably performed using monochromatic sources like lasers, absolute monochromaticity is usually not necessary.

Unfortunately, there are currently no other monochromatic light sources available that can generate a sufficiently small (in terms of the thickness of the light sheet) light sheet and that allow for high quality light sheet microscopy. Laser systems, however, are quite expensive.

Starting from the available prior art, the technical problem to be solved by the invention thus is to provide a device comprising a light source device that can be used in light sheet microscopy or other sorts of specific illumination patterns, while being cheaper in production and easier to handle compared to commonly known systems.

This problem is solved by the device comprising a light source device according to independent claim <NUM>.

The invention particularly concerns a device comprising a light source according to any of the embodiments discussed below, wherein the device is one of a light sheet microscope, a total internal reflection illumination device, a high low illumination device, a selective plane illumination microscope.

The light source device according to the invention comprises a light source and an optical component, wherein the optical component comprises a receiving section for receiving light from the light source and an emitting section for emitting light, wherein the light source is a non-coherent light source and is adapted to emit light from a two-dimensional region and wherein the optical component is adapted to guide the light from the receiving section to the emitting section such that the light can be emitted in a one dimensional pattern at the emitting section.

Specifically, the emitted light may be spatially coherent in one dimension, for example when the pattern is a straight line.

In the context of the present invention, emitting light from a two-dimensional region means that the light is emitted from a plane, like a circle, a rectangle or any other shape. The two-dimensional region does not necessarily need to be a "plane" surface but it can also be a curved surface like the surface of a sphere. Basically, the two-dimensional region from which the light is emitted by the light source is an arbitrary region having arbitrary shape but with the requirement that any point in this two-dimensional region from which the light is emitted can be described by using two parameters. For example, assuming a coordinate system having Cartesian coordinates x and y, and further assuming that the two-dimensional region is a square, any point within this square can be specified by using the two "parameters" x and y as coordinates for each point within this two-dimensional region. In the case of the two-dimensional region emitting the light being the surface of a sphere, the two parameters will be the angles ϑ and φ as commonly used in describing spherical coordinates. Other examples can be imagined.

In contrast to this, emitting the light from the emitting section in a one dimensional pattern means that the pattern in which the light is emitted is considered a point source in one dimension and has an extension in the other dimension. This means that the emitting section will emit the light as a plurality of dots in a one dimensional pattern where this one dimensional pattern is a pattern that comprises points and can be specified by using exactly one parameter. Due to the lateral point spread function (PSF) of optical systems, it is not possible to create a "one-dimensional" object or emitting section. However, in the following, a one-dimensional emitting section will be considered a region where the extension of this emitting section in the one dimension intended will be much larger (<NUM><NUM> or <NUM><NUM> or <NUM><NUM>) than the size of the lateral PSF of the system.

By the term "guiding the light from the receiving section to the emitting section", it is meant that the light introduced into the receiving section travels a given distance through the optical component to the emitting section. It is intended that the "amount of light" introduced into the receiving section of the optical component will completely or at least almost completely (with losses of less than <NUM>%, preferably less than <NUM>%, most preferred less than <NUM>%) reach the emitting section and will be emitted at the emitting section.

With the light source device according to the invention, simple and cheap light sources that emit non-coherent but monochromatic light, like LEDs, can be used for creating a one-dimensionally coherent light that can potentially further be used, for example, for generating a light sheet for light sheet microscopy. This insight was arrived at by the inventors because commonly known systems using lasers (see background of the invention) provide laser light as the light for generating the light sheet. Laser light has spatial and temporal coherence. However, for generating a light sheet, it has been found that spatial coherence is only necessary in one dimension and temporal coherence is not even needed at all. By dropping these requirements, the application of a laser is no longer necessary and cheaper sources can be used as long as spatial coherence in at least one dimension is (almost or at least to same degree) obtained. By providing the light source device according to the invention, this spatial coherence is created by reducing the dimensionality of the region from which the light is emitted at the emitting section compared to the dimensionality of the light emitting region at the light source.

It is clear that no perfect spatial coherence can be obtained with this light source device as this would violate the second law of thermodynamics. However, with the respective rearrangement of the light by guiding it through the optical component, almost spatial coherence in one dimension can be obtained because the emitting section has a comparably small extension in a plane comprising the one-dimensional pattern and being perpendicular to the emitting direction of the emitting section.

With this light source device, a cheap source for light suitable for performing, for example, light sheet microscopy can be obtained.

The light source may be an LED or other extended light sources like an arc lamp.

Light emitting diodes provide monochromatic light which is most suitable for light sheet microscopy. Additionally, those LEDs are comparably cheap and can thus reduce the costs of the light source device compared to, for example, using a laser source.

Furthermore, the emitting section may be shaped to emit light in the form of at least one of a straight line, a contour of a circle, a contour of a triangle, a contour of a rectangle, an irregular line.

In regard to this embodiment, the term "a contour of" always means the boundary section of the geometric form, for example the circle, the triangle and the rectangle. Those contours refer, therefore, to objects where the coordinates of each point of these objects can be described using a single parameter. For example, for describing a point on the contour of a circle, only one parameter (the polar angle) is necessary.

These embodiments provide realizations of the one-dimensional pattern that can be used efficiently depending on the required application of the light emitted by the emitting section.

In one embodiment, the optical component comprises a plurality of fibers for guiding light, wherein the fibers are tapered at the receiving section and separated at the emitting section. One preferred realization of this embodiment is the realization of the optical component in the form of a photonic lantern.

In this regard, there can be an expanding section between the receiving section and the emitting section where the fibers are still fused together (i.e. tapered) and are only separated after this expanding section.

Thereby, this embodiment allows for reducing the losses when the light travels through the optical component.

In a further specification of this embodiment, the fibers are single-mode fibers.

Single-mode fibers provide a small diameter of the output, thereby reducing the extension of the emitting section in a dimension perpendicular to the one dimensional emission pattern and perpendicular to the emission direction of the light emitted from the emitting section.

Alternatively the fibers may be multi-mode fibers.

Those fibers are comparably cheap and less fibers need to be used for the optical component in order to obtain as many modes as possible from the light emitted by the light source for further use. This comes with the disadvantage that the expansion of the multimode fibers in a plane comprising the one dimensional emission pattern and being perpendicular to the emission direction of the light emitted from the emitting section being comparably large.

However, when using a suitable optic for focusing the light emitted by the light emitting section, this light can nevertheless be applicable, for example, in the context of a light sheet microscope.

In a further embodiment, the tapered section fulfills an adiabatic expansion.

This means that the shape of the incident light (specifically the region of the phase space of the incident light at the receiving section) is changed in an adiabatic manner, thus without losing (a significant amount of) energy due to strong condition changes. This can be achieved by, for example, elongating the tapered section to the adiabatic condition without changing the form of the cross-section. Consider for example a fused or a tapered section of the fibers at the receiving section having the shape of a circle. Due to the adiabatic expansion, this circle may not be changed in shape (for example to an elliptical shape) but only its diameter may be increased slowly. In the case of having the same number of single mode fibers as there are spatial modes in the light source, every mode will be slowly guided to each fiber, minimizing the losses during transmission.

Also, a first imaging system may be arranged between the light source and the receiving section for imaging light emitted from the light source to the receiving section of the optical component.

With this, for example differences between the size of the emitting region of the light source and the receiving section in the optical component can be compensated for.

In a further embodiment, the light source comprises a plurality of LEDs and the light source device further comprises a second imaging system for imaging light emitted from the LEDs into the receiving section.

With this, coupling the light of a plurality of LEDs (for example also with differently colored LEDs) into the same optical component is possible, thereby reducing the costs of systems using multiple monochromatic light sources.

In one embodiment, the optical component comprises a photonic lantern. This device can now be manufactured at comparably small costs while it can guide the light efficiently in the manner intended according to the invention, thereby realizing a light source device that can provide light, for example for application in light sheet microscopy, with reduced costs compared for example to using lasers.

A light sheet fluorescence microscope according to an embodiment of the invention comprises an optical sensor having an observation direction and an optical device according to the previous embodiments, wherein the optical sensor and the optical device are arranged relative to each other such that the observation direction is in the plane perpendicular to the light sheet and this plane contains the propagation direction of the light sheet, and an angle between the propagation direction and the observation direction is greater than zero.

With this light sheet microscope, a more cheap yet sufficiently efficient light sheet and a 3D imaging of samples can be achieved.

<FIG> shows one embodiment of a light source device <NUM> according to the invention to be provided as part of a device according to the invention, where the device is one of a light sheet microscope, a total internal reflection illumination device, a high low illumination device, a selective plane illumination microscope. The light source device comprises a light source <NUM> and an optical component <NUM>. The light source <NUM> and the optical component <NUM> are arranged in a manner that light emitted from the light source will incite on the optical component and will, then, travel through the optical component such that it can be emitted.

For the further explanations, the portion of the optical component that receives the light from the light source <NUM> will be named a receiving section <NUM>. The portion of the optical component <NUM> that will emit light <NUM> will be called an emitting section <NUM>.

In accordance with the invention, the light source <NUM> emits light <NUM>. This light, as depicted in <FIG>, will then hit the receiving section <NUM>. As will be explained later, the light emitted can also be firstly provided through an imaging system that, for example, focuses the light emitted from the light source <NUM> to the exact shape of the receiving section <NUM>.

The light source <NUM> is, according to the invention, a non-coherent or incoherent light source, like for example an LED (light-emitting diode). Such light-emitting diodes are commonly known and any light-emitting diode, specifically any light-emitting diode with an arbitrary output energy and an arbitrary frequency can be used with the invention. As will be explained later, is also possible to use a plurality of LEDs (or other non-coherent sources like arc lamps) as "light source <NUM>".

For further explanations, however, reference will now be made to only "one" light source <NUM>. The light source <NUM> will emit light from a two-dimensional region. Considering, for example, an LED, this might be a two-dimensional region in the shape of a circle or square. Without loss of generality, a circular region <NUM> as depicted in this cross section <NUM> will be considered as the two-dimensional region emitting light from the light source, for example, in the case of an LED. This two-dimensional region comprises a plurality of points emitting the light. This two-dimensional region and the points within can thus be characterized by two parameters when specifying their position in a coordinate system. Considering for example, the region would be a perfect plane, polar coordinates using the radius (i.e. the distance from an arbitrary point within the region <NUM> to the center of the region) and the polar angle φ can be used as parameters for specifying the coordinates of any point within this region <NUM>.

The region does, however, not need to be perfectly plane. In fact, the coordinates of points within an arbitrary shaped and curved two-dimensional region can be specified using a function depending on only two parameters.

In any case, light emitted from the light source and specifically from the two-dimensional region of the light source incites on the receiving section <NUM> of the optical component. Within this optical component <NUM>, a rearrangement of the propagation direction occurs in a manner that preferably all light (i.e. without energy losses) is guided from the receiving section to the emitting section <NUM>. However, at the emitting section the light is emitted in a different shape <NUM> as depicted in the cross section <NUM>. This shape <NUM> is, however, in contrast to the two-dimensional region with which the light is emitted at the light source <NUM>, a one-dimensional pattern. In contrast to the two-dimensional region <NUM>, the one-dimensional pattern comprises a plurality of points where the coordinates of these points can be specified using exactly one parameter. The dimensionality of the pattern with which the light is emitted from the optical component at the emitting section <NUM> is thus reduced by one compared to the two-dimensional region at which the light is emitted at the light source.

This reduction in dimensionality is, preferably, achieved without losing any energy on the way from the light source to the emitting region. However, in view of physical constraints and manufacturing issues (as will be apparent later), there can indeed be some loss so that the efficiency of transferring the light emitted from the light source <NUM> via the optical component will be less than <NUM>%.

However, in accordance with the invention, the efficiency can be comparably high, for example <NUM>% or even more.

The one-dimensional pattern <NUM> with which the emitting section will output light is not perfectly one-dimensional. This is because any object that emits light in the real world has an extension in at least two dimensions. Consider for example the exiting region of an optical fiber. This has a specific diameter, for example in the range of a few micro meters. However, it is intended that the "one-dimensional pattern" at which the light is emitted from the emitting section has an extension L along this one-dimensional pattern that is much larger compared to the extension perpendicular to this one-dimensional pattern. The length of the one-dimensional pattern is shown in <FIG> as <NUM>, i.e. as the curved line. The extension in a dimension perpendicular to the direction along the line may thus be much smaller than the extension of the line, for example <NUM>-<NUM>L or <NUM>-<NUM>L or <NUM>-<NUM>L. Under such circumstances, the emission pattern can be considered a "one-dimensional" pattern although this, of course, does not happen in reality and the emission pattern is rather two-dimensional. However, the extension of the pattern of light emitted from the emitting section in the second dimension is much smaller compared to the corresponding extension of the two-dimensional region with which light is emitted at the light source.

<FIG> shows one example of an optical component with which such modifications to the pattern at which light is emitted can be achieved. This embodiment in <FIG> makes use of a so-called "photonic lantern" as is, for example, described in the paper "The Photonic Lantern" by Birks et al in Advances in Optics and Photonics, volume <NUM>, issue two, page <NUM> (<NUM>), DOI: <NUM>/AOP. Such a photonic lantern is obtained by adiabatically merging several single mode fibers (or multimode fibers) into one multimode core, whereby a low loss interface between a single mode and multimode system can be obtained.

The photonic lantern is depicted in <FIG> as item <NUM> whereas the light source is depicted as item <NUM>.

As previously explained, it is possible to position a first imaging system <NUM> in propagation direction of the light emitted from the light source <NUM> between the light source <NUM> and the photonic lantern <NUM>.

To describe the shape and functionality of the photonic lantern in <FIG> in more detail, cross sections of the photonic lantern in a plane perpendicular to the general propagation direction of light travelling through the photonic lantern will be provided and explained.

The first imaging system <NUM> can be provided in order to image the light emitted from the light source <NUM> from the light source to the receiving section of the optical component. This can result in a change of, for example, the opening angle at which the light emitted from the light source <NUM> previously travelled. Using, for example, a collimating lens, the light emitted from the light source <NUM> under a specific angle can be transformed to almost parallel light beams that incite on the receiving section <NUM> of the photonic lantern <NUM>.

In view of this, the cross-section of the receiving section <NUM> and a first portion of the photonic lantern is denoted with <NUM>. This cross-section may advantageously be provided in the form of a circle. The diameter of the circle is (almost) constant over the first portion <NUM>. Furthermore, this first portion <NUM> may be surrounded by a cladding/coating <NUM> or other medium having a lower index of refraction than the material in the first portion. Thus, light incident on the receiving section <NUM> will just be guided through the portion <NUM> as it would be guided by a normal multimode fiber. Preferably, the cross-section <NUM> of the first portion <NUM> is chosen such that (almost) all incident modes arriving at the receiving section will be able to travel through this first region <NUM>. Preferably, at least <NUM>% of the incident modes will be able to travel through this region.

In propagation direction of the light through the optical component from the receiving section to the emitting section <NUM>, there is provided a tapered section (which may also be called a guiding section) <NUM> after the first portion <NUM>. In this tapered section, the diameter of the cross-section of the photonic lantern is increased in the way that there is possible an adiabatic expansion and thus a smooth guidance of the light modes travelling through the photonic lantern. Through this adiabatic expansion, every mode of the incident light is guided to a single mode fiber without losing energy at this point.

In the tapered section <NUM>, the "multimode core" is smoothly transformed to a bundle of single mode cores.

At the end of the tapered section <NUM>, there is a section <NUM> where now all the fibers are separated and independent. This comes from the manufacturing process with which the photonic lantern is manufactured. This is achieved by melting a portion of a bundle of fibers (for example single mode fibers or multimode fibers) together at one point and increasing the length in a specific portion such that its diameter is reduced. Thereby, the shape of the regions <NUM> and <NUM> is obtained.

At the point of transition between the portions <NUM> and <NUM>, the cross-section of the bundle of fibers is shown in <NUM>. It is still of circular shape where, instead of a single core, there is now a plurality of fibers.

Preferably, all modes that travelled through the tapered region <NUM> will now travel through the fibers <NUM>. However, some losses may occur here at this transition point.

Once the modes are coupled into the fibers <NUM> (denoting only three examples of the overall amount of fibers), they travel as separate light modes. When following the propagation direction of light through the portion <NUM>, the relative arrangement of the optical fibers can be changed arbitrarily without this having any influence on the modes guided through the separate fibers and without his having influence on other fibers.

Thus, the guides/fibers can be rearranged such that, at the emitting section, the arrangement has the shape of the cross-section <NUM> (in the form of an arbitrary curved one-dimensional pattern).

By applying this specific optical component (in this case in the form of a photonic lantern), it is thus possible to reduce the dimensionality and the arrangement of the light emitted from the light source <NUM> from two dimensions to efficiently one dimension at the emitting section <NUM> without losing energy as all modes incident on the receiving section <NUM> can, in theory, travel through the photonic lantern.

However, due to some constraints of physical and manufacturing nature, there will be some losses. Those losses, however, can be kept comparably small.

In order to explain the physical concept of this optical component in the form of a photonic lantern, one may imagine the following exemplary situation. An extended light source can be decomposed into multiple point-sources distributed along its two dimensions. This decomposition may also be referred to as separating the emitted light into its constituting modes. The fused (tapered) section acts as a multimode fiber allowing the guidance of the multiple modes of the light source. In the adiabatic expansion section, the modes are smoothly guided optically to every single mode fiber. If every mode has an associated available single mode fiber, it will be guided (essentially) without losses. The emitting section then consists of the resulting single mode fibers than can be organized in a linear (or other) pattern allowing the reduction of dimensionality compared to the original light source.

With these explanations, it is clear that, with enough single mode fibers, the application of the photonic lantern to basically reduce the dimensionality of the light pattern emitting light at the emitting section compared to the two-dimensional region of the light source <NUM> while, at the same time, not losing significant amounts of energy still complies with the second law of thermodynamics.

<FIG> shows a further embodiment where there still is only one optical component <NUM> as explained previously (for example a photonic lantern) but there is provided a plurality of light sources <NUM> to <NUM>. Those light sources may, for example, be embodied in the form of differently colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In any case, each of the light sources <NUM> to <NUM> is provided as a non-coherent light source. While, for ease of explanation, there are only three light sources depicted and referred to in the following, it is clear that it is also possible to use any number of light sources. For example, there may be provided two light sources or <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> light sources instead of the three depicted in <FIG>. The invention can be applied to any number of light sources as will become apparent from the further explanations below.

In order to introduce the light emitted from each of the light sources into the receiving section (not denoted here) of the optical component <NUM>, a plurality of mirrors or other optical devices may be used for redirecting the beams.

The arrangement in <FIG> achieves the respective introduction of the light emitted from all the light sources into the optical component by arranging the light source <NUM> such that its emitted light <NUM> directly incites on the receiving section of the optical component <NUM> (after having passed the dichroic mirror <NUM>).

The light emitted by the light source <NUM> denoted with <NUM> firstly hits a dichroic mirror <NUM> which reflects the light into the direction <NUM> such that this light will now hit the dichroic mirror <NUM> where it is once again reflected such that the incites together with the light emitted from the light source <NUM> as light beam <NUM> on the receiving section of the optical component.

For the third light source <NUM>, a corresponding arrangement is chosen. The light <NUM> emitted by this light source firstly hits a dichroic mirror <NUM> from which it is reflected into the direction <NUM>. When travelling along this direction, it hits the dichroic mirror <NUM> through which it passes and travels along the path <NUM> in order to hit the dichroic mirror <NUM> from which it is likewise reflected in order to travel in the direction <NUM> to the receiving section of the optical component <NUM>, like is the light of the light source <NUM> and <NUM>.

By this arrangement, it is possible to either combine a plurality of identically colored non-coherent light sources (for example a plurality of LEDs) or to combine a plurality of differently colored light sources (for example a blue, green and red LED). This allows for providing a plurality of applications as the light <NUM> emitted from the optical component can, for example, comprise a single wavelength only (by using, for example, monochromatic LEDs of the same kind as different light sources) or by providing a multicolored light <NUM> (by using a plurality of differently colored light sources). The application of such a light source device can be realized depending on the circumstances by simply exchanging the light sources <NUM> to <NUM>. In order to achieve this, the light sources can be arranged in the light source device in an exchangeable manner without, for example, this requiring the use of additional tools let alone the destruction of the light source device.

<FIG> shows an optical device that comprises a light source device <NUM> comprising the light source <NUM> and an optical component <NUM> in line with the embodiments described with respect to <FIG>.

In addition, there is arranged in propagation direction of the light emitted from the emitting region an optical system that is preferably adapted to collimate and focus the light emitted from the emitting section of the optical component <NUM>.

The optical system may take a variety of forms and may comprise one or more mirrors, one or more lenses, or any other optical component suitable for collimating/focusing or manipulating the light emitted from the optical component <NUM> in the manner as intended.

In <FIG>, the embodiment is intended to provide, after the light having passed the optical system <NUM>, a light sheet that can be used, for example, for light sheet microscopy.

In order to obtain such a light sheet from the light emitted from the emitting section of the optical component <NUM>, the optical system <NUM> comprises at least one cylindrical lens (also denoted with <NUM> here, but further components may form part of the optical system as well) in the embodiment described.

The emitting section of the optical component <NUM> in <FIG> is designed as a straight line which will, thus, result in light <NUM> being emitted that has the shape of a cuboid with an extension D perpendicular to the propagation direction of this cuboid and perpendicular to the extension L of the emitting section and correspondingly the extension L of the emitted light.

This cuboid stream of light is then introduced into the cylindrical lens <NUM> such that the extension L is in parallel to the axis of symmetry A of the cylindrical lens. By this arrangement, the light incident on the cylindrical lens is focused such that a light sheet <NUM> is created having an extension d that is smaller than the extension D before the cuboid shape of the emitted light passes the cylindrical lens.

Such a light sheet may have an extension d of a few micro meters, for example <NUM> or <NUM>. Such a light sheet can allow for application in light sheet microscopy as, with this, it is possible to pass a sufficiently small light sheet through a sample and, thus, provide for <NUM>-D imaging of the sample using the emitted or scattered light.

A corresponding application of a light sheet is shown in <FIG>.

In <FIG>, there is shown the arrangement of the light source <NUM>, the optical component <NUM> and the cylindrical lens <NUM> as well as the emitted light sheet <NUM> in a top view. The light sheet <NUM> is transmitted through a sample <NUM>, for example a plurality of biological cells. The observation direction O depicted as dashed line is in the plane defined by the direction of the propagation P of the illumination and the direction S orthogonal to the light sheet. The observation direction further as an angle φ with P where φ><NUM>. For example, φ may be <NUM>°, <NUM>° or <NUM>°. Along this observation direction O, there is positioned an optical sensor for receiving and recognizing light emitted from the target <NUM>. As the light emitted from the light source <NUM> is preferably a monochromatic light (for example green light by using a green LED), using optical sensors that are specifically sensitive to the light emitted by the light source is preferable because, with this, a significant contrast can be obtained.

When the light sheet <NUM> travels through the target <NUM>, light is emitted in the direction <NUM> which may not be perfectly parallel to the observation direction but it may travel a distance where the scattered or emitted light hits the optical sensors <NUM>. Thereby, the optical sensor obtains light that originates from a very small region of the target, allowing for imaging this region of the target.

By moving the light sheet and the target relative to each other (for example by moving the optical system or by moving the target), it is possible to move the light sheet through the whole target, thereby allowing for obtaining information on any section of the target with the optical sensor <NUM>.

By aggregating this information, it is possible to perform a <NUM>-D imaging and obtain a three-dimensional image of the target <NUM>. Additionally, it becomes possible to specifically analyze the behavior of only portions of the target, for example the behavior of specific processes within cells by not moving the light sheet relative to the target but by monitoring only a very specific portion of the target.

Additionally, the invention improves the quality of the scattering images due to the temporal incoherence of the source that avoids speckles.

However, although the invention is described to be specifically applicable to a light sheet fluorescence microscope by using an optical device with an optical system as described in <FIG> and a light source device as described with respect to <FIG>, the invention is not limited thereto. Additionally, other applications may be thought of.

For example, the light source device according to the invention may be used in the context of total internal reflection illumination. The concept of the total internal reflection illumination is known from an article by <NPL>. Additional applications may be the high low illumination as described by <NPL>.

Also other applications are possible due to the fact that the one-dimensional pattern can have any shape. As explained above, the shape may, for example, be the shape of the contour of a triangle or a contour of a rectangle or it may be any irregular line like a semicircle, a semi elliptical shape, a hyperbolic shape or any other shape as is deemed suitable.

Other configurations like orienting the system <NUM> in an orthogonal direction allows for generating a sequence of light sheets distributed along the observation direction S.

Claim 1:
A device comprising a light source device comprising a light source and an optical component, wherein the optical component comprises a receiving section for receiving light from the light source and an emitting section for emitting light, wherein the light source is a non-coherent light source and is adapted to emit light from a two-dimensional region and wherein the optical component is adapted to guide the light from the receiving section to the emitting section such that the light can be emitted in a one dimensional pattern at the emitting section, wherein the optical component comprises a plurality of fibers for guiding light, wherein the fibers are fused and tapered at the receiving section and separated at the emitting section, wherein the device is one of a light sheet microscope, a total internal reflection illumination device, a high low illumination device, a selective plane illumination microscope.