Patent Application: US-201414447639-A

Abstract:
a method and apparatus for imaging a live cell object , the method including the steps of : modulating the phase of an electromagnetic wave in a periodic pattern with a two dimensional phase grating to produce a phase modulated electromagnetic wave in two axes ; projecting a real image of the phase grating onto an object to produce phase modulated electromagnetic wave illumination of the object ; varying a location of the periodic pattern in time along the two axes to change the phase of the periodic pattern ; projecting a real image of the object to a detector ; recording multiple images of the object with the detector , each of the images is recorded with the periodic pattern in a different location ; and calculating a synthetic image of the object by extracting information 90 degrees out of phase with the illumination .

Description:
the principles and operation the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description . referring now to the drawings , fig1 illustrates a high level block diagram of an optical setup of an imaging apparatus of the present invention . a first electromagnetic wave 100 is modulated by a first grating , which is an intensity grating 101 in a periodic pattern of light intensity . the term ‘ intensity grating ’ is used for — and interchangeably with — any optical element , such as an amplitude grating , a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) or a digital light processor ( dlp ), that can modulate the intensity of light . the intensity modulated electromagnetic wave is projected by a first optical imaging system 102 / 104 on to an object 110 through a beam - splitting component such as a beam splitter 103 , or a dichroic mirror . that is to say that the first optical imaging system projects a first real image of the intensity modulated electromagnetic wave at the first grating to an object plane , where the object ( e . g a live cell or cells ) is located . the illumination intensity l mn at the object plane , when illuminated by first electromagnetic wave , can be written as : l mn ( x , y )= a 0 + a 1 cos ( 2π x / δ x + 2 / πm / m ) cos ( 2π y / δ y + 2π n / n )+ hh ( 1 ) where the intensity function l mn is periodic in x and y with periods of distances δ x , δ y . the integers m = 1 . . . m and n = 1 . . . n relate to the phase of the pattern which can be shifted in time , for example by moving the intensity grating or electrically moving the pattern created on lcd or dlp , generally represented by bidirectional arrow 111 . the hh stands for higher harmonics of δ x , δ y , which may modulate the intensity . equation ( 1 ) can also describe one dimensional grating if , for example m = 1 and δ x →∞. a third optical imaging system 104 / 105 images light at the object plane to an image plane at a sensor 113 . the sensor / detector can be for example a camera , a ccd camera or any type of detector that can grab an image . the third optical imaging system 104 / 105 images the light reflected back / returned [ backwards ]/ travelling backwards from object 110 ( by fluorescence , scattering , luminescence or any other manner ) to sensor 113 which is coupled to a processor 114 . the light travels back from object 110 when illuminated by the first optical imaging system . sensor 113 captures m × n images i mn ( x , y ), while the phase of the intensity grating is varied . a first synthetic image of the object s 1 , interacting with the electromagnetic wave projected by the first optical imaging system , can be calculated by the processor 114 according to the teachings of u . s . pat . no . 5 , 867 , 604 , by extracting the signal in phase with the illumination ( i . e . the intensity modulated electromagnetic wave illuminating the object ), using the transformation : a hilbert transformed , third synthetic image of the object s 2 can be calculated according to the teaching of u . s . pat . no . 5 , 867 , 604 by extracting the signal 90 degrees out of phase with the illumination ( i . e . intensity modulated electromagnetic wave ), using the transformation : the invention further discloses a second electromagnetic wave 115 modulated by a second grating , which is a phase grating 106 in a periodic pattern of wave - front phase . the term ‘ phase grating ’ is used to refer to — or interchangeably with — any optical element such as a phase diffraction grating , a liquid crystal in certain configurations ( not lcd ) or any other optical element that can modulate the phase of an electromagnetic light wave . the phase grating is a two - dimensional , phase grating which is able to modulate the phase of an electromagnetic wave in a periodic pattern , thereby forming a phase modulated electromagnetic wave . the periodic pattern of second grating can be displaced in time to vary a pattern phase . a second optical system 107 , 108 , 109 ( for example , a tube lens , a folding mirror and an objective lens ) can project a second real image of light of the phase modulated electromagnetic wave at the second / phase grating to the object plane . the direction that the second real image of light is projected is opposite to the direction in which the first real image of light was projected . the first five grating orders of the phase modulated wave are projected by the second optical system 107 - 109 on the object plane to illuminate the object 110 with a wave function ψ mn : ψ mn ( x , y )= a 00 σ ( x , y )+ a 11 σ ( x , y ) exp [ i ( 2π x / λ x + φ 0x + 2π m / m ′+ 2π y / λ y + φ 0y + 2π n / n ′ )]+ a 1 - 1 σ ( x , y ) exp [ i ( 2π x / λ x + φ 0x + 2π m / m ′− 2π y / λ y − φ 0y − 2π n / n ′ )]+ a 11 σ ( x , y ) exp [ i (− 2π x / λ x − φ 0x − 2π m / m ′ + 2π y / λ y + φ 0y + 2π n / n ′ )]+ a − 1 - 1 σ ( x , y ) exp [ i (− 2π x / λ x − φ 0x − 2π m / m ′− 2π y / λ y − φ 0y − π n / n ′ )] which can be summed to the form ( see more details in the mathematical analysis ): ψ min ( x , y )= a 0 σ ( x , y )+ i a 1 σ ( x , y ) sin ( 2 πx / λ x + φ 0x + 2π m / m ′ ) sin ( 2π y / λ y + φ 0y + 2π n / n ′ ) ( 5a ) where i 2 =− i is the “ complex imaginary unit ”. the wave function ψ mn illuminating the object has a periodic phase shift in x and y with periods of distances λ x , λ y . σ ( x , y ) is a wave function , related to the original wave 115 illuminating the phase grating and after projection through optical system 107 / 109 . the integers m = 1 . . . m ′ and n = 1 . . . n ′ relate to the phase of the pattern which can be shifted in time , for example by moving the phase grating by a mechanical actuator such as piezoelectric actuator or electrically moving the pattern created on a liquid crystal , generally represented by bidirectional arrow 112 . in one embodiment of the invention , a single mechanical actuator can move both the intensity and the phase grating . equation 5a present a novel imaging system that illuminates the object with an electromagnetic wave characterized by amplitude and phase , where the phase of the wave is structured in a periodic pattern in two axes . a beam of light transmitted through the object 110 is imaged by the third optical imaging system 104 , 105 to the sensor 113 coupled to processor 114 . sensor 113 captures m ′× n ′ images while the phase of the pattern of the phase grating 106 is varied ( e . g . by a mechanical or electrical actuator ). now , a hilbert transformed , second synthetic image s ′ 2 of the phase shifts induced by the object interacting in phase shifts with the electromagnetic wave projected by the second optical imaging system , can be calculated according to the teachings of the invention as proven by novel analysis presented below , by extracting the signal 90 degrees out of phase with the illuminating wave pattern of equation sa and using the transformation : the images s 1 and s ′ 2 can be combined together to get the whole information of a live cell with labeling ( by fluorescence , luminescence or other method ) or raman scattering imaged in s 1 and without labeling ( by phase shifting ) imaged in s ′ 2 . since labeling can be toxic to the live cell and since it is usually very specific to certain molecule and certain chemical process , the additional information given by s ′ 2 is valuable . if required , the image of the phase shifts created by the object s ′ 1 , can be calculated using the transformation : where s ′ 1 ( x , y ) is the signal in phase with the illuminating wave pattern of equation 5a . the following novel analysis provides a mathematical proof to hilbert transform imaging of phase shifting objects according to the teaching of the present invention . for simplicity , for better understanding and to avoid long mathematical formulation , the model will be given in one axis x . the extension to two axes x , y is simple following the same lines of the given analysis . fig2 depicts a layout diagram of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention . assume an electromagnetic wave passes through a phase grating h ( similar to the phase grating 106 of fig1 , but reduced to one axis only ), and the first orders of the grating are projected on an object 14 by an optical imaging system 13 . the pattern of the phase grating can be moved in a direction generally represented by bidirectional arrow 12 . the object is now illuminated by an electromagnetic wave function ψ 0 expressing the amplitude and phase of the wave and consists a periodic phase shifting with a basic period equal to λ : ψ 0 = σg 0 + σg 1 { exp [ i ( 2 πx / λ + φ k )]− exp [− i ( 2 πx / λ + φ k )]} ( 7 ) where g 0 , g 1 are real constants , i 2 =− 1 and σ is a wave function appearing in both components of the summation , which indicates that both components are coherent to one another . the phase φ k can be varied in time φ k = φ 0 + 2π k / n and k = 1 , 2 , . . . , n . equation 7 can be written also as : ψ 0 = σg 0 + i 2 σ g 1 sin ( 2π x / λ + φ k ) ( 8 ) assuming that the object is transparent and affects the electromagnetic wave by phase shifts related to the variations of refraction index within the object , the phase shifts can be modeled by a complex function θ ( x ): where ξ is a spatial frequency and m ( ξ ), φ ( ξ ) are the modulation and phase . it is assumed that the phase shifts created by the object are small ( small disturbance assumption ) and can use the approximation : exp [ α sin ( β )]˜= j 0 ( α )+ j 1 ( α ) exp [ i β ]− j 1 ( α ) exp [− iβ ] ( 10 ) where is j 0 , j 1 are bessel functions of 0 and 1 orders . θ ( x ) can now be written as : a real image of the object is projected to a detector 16 ( e . g a sensor such as a camera etc .). the detector records multiple images of the object where each image is recorded with the periodic pattern illumination in a different location / phase of the pattern . a processor 17 calculates a synthetic image of the object by using the transformation of equation 6 , reduced to one axis , to extract the component s ′ 2 90 degrees out of phase with the phase modulated electromagnetic wave illumination of the object . the goal of the analysis is to prove that the intensity signal detected at the image plane by detector 16 can be analyzed by processor 17 using the transformation of equation 6 , to extract the component s ′ 2 90 degrees out of phase with the illumination pattern and that component s ′ 2 is related to the object as the hilbert transform of the phase shifts θ ( x ), induced by the object , within a band of spatial frequencies ξ = 0 − max . the aforementioned can be translated into mathematical form of : the electromagnetic wave function , after passing through the object 14 , can be expressed in the form of : an optical imaging system 15 in fig2 is represented , for the purpose of the analysis , by a classical model of coherent transfer function h ( ξ ) with unit transmission up to a cut off frequency defined by the numerical aperture of the lens system . for simplicity it is further assumed that the illumination is designed such that the basic period λ also defines the cut off frequency : using the optical transfer function h ( ξ ) the wave function can be analyzed at the image plane ψ 1 by filtering out all spatial frequencies higher than 1 / λ resulting in : and the intensity at the image plane measured by detector 16 is equal to : components whose contribution to the energy is very small can be neglected using the assumption of small disturbance in expression 12 and get : the component s 2 can be extracted from the measure intensity by the transformation of equation 6 when reduced to one axis : notice that to perform the transformation of equation 20 , a calibration step is required , in which the initial phases 2πx / λ + φ 0 are be measured at each point of the image . this calibration is obvious for intensity structured illumination because the grating can be seen and the phase of the grating analyzed from the intensity image of the camera , for example , when the object is a flat mirror . calibration for phase grating is more complicated because the lines of phase do not appear in the intensity image . note however , that the intensity image i k is modulated with the second harmonic of the grating at the spatial frequency 2 / λ twice higher than the grating frequency at 1 / λ , thereby providing a simple method to calibrate the initial phase using the transformation : where arg { q } is the argument of q . the same concept can be applied for calibrating two dimensional grating in two axes x - y . the transfer function t ( ξ ) of equation 13 is the constant c of equation 21 and reaches a cut off frequency equal to 2 / λ , which is twice as high as the cut off frequency of the optical imaging system 15 at 1 / λ , as expressed in equation 16 . the implication is an improvement of the lateral resolution two times higher ( lateral super resolution ) than previously achieved . fig3 a - 3 d depict various transfer functions . fig3 d shows the transfer function of a phase structured illumination imaging apparatus as described by equation 21 , compared to the diffraction limited , aberration free coherent transfer function in fig3 c as described by equation 16 . fig3 a depicts a diffraction limited , aberration free incoherent optical transfer function . fig3 b depicts the transfer function of an intensity ( amplitude ) structured illumination imaging system as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 867 , 604 . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , it will be appreciated that many variations , modifications and other applications of the invention may be made . therefore , the claimed invention as recited in the claims that follow is not limited to the embodiments described herein . 1 . zernike , f . 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