Patent ID: 8314406

Claim:
A system for optical imaging, comprising: a light source configured to project illumination light comprising one or more illumination light pulses into a specimen having a fluorescent material therein, wherein said illumination light comprises excitation light that becomes intrinsic light within said specimen and excites said fluorescent material, thereby producing fluorescent light, wherein at least a portion of said fluorescent light and said intrinsic light exit said specimen; an early-photon light detector configured to detect one or more fluorescent light early photon portions associated with said exiting fluorescent light and one or more intrinsic light early photon portions associated with said exiting intrinsic light, wherein each fluorescent light early photon portion is a portion of said fluorescent light less than all of said fluorescent light associated with a corresponding illumination light pulse and wherein each intrinsic light early photon portion is a portion of said intrinsic light less than all of said intrinsic light associated with a corresponding illumination light pulse, wherein said early-photon light detector is configured to generate a fluorescent light measurement that is a time-dependent function associated with said one or more fluorescent light early photon portions and is configured to generate an intrinsic measurement that is a time-dependent function associated with said one or more intrinsic light early photon portions; and an image processor configured to combine said fluorescent light measurement and said intrinsic light measurement in a time-dependent combination to generate a fluorescent light image from said processed data, said fluorescent light image representative of a spatial distribution of said fluorescent material in at least two dimensions.