Optimized volumetric imaging with selective volume illumination and light field detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10901193-B2
Application number	US-201716079979-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2017
Priority date	Feb 26, 2016
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

Volumetric imaging with selective volume illumination (SVI) using light field detection is provided using various systems and techniques. A volumetric imaging apparatus includes a light source configured to emit an illumination light that propagates via an illumination light path to illuminate a three-dimensional (3D) sample; and an optical system arranged with respect to the light source to receive a light field, which comes from the illuminated 3D sample. The light field propagates via a detection light path, and the light source, the optical system, or both; are configurable to perform SVI, which selects a volume of a 3D-confined illumination of the 3D sample based on the 3D sample to be illuminated and a light field detection (LFD) process to be applied. Further, the volume of the 3D-confined illumination is a selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination for imaging.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A volumetric imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source configured to emit an illumination light that propagates via an illumination light path to illuminate a three-dimensional (3D) sample; and
an optical system arranged with respect to the light source to receive a light field, which comes from the illuminated 3D sample, wherein the light field propagates via a detection light path;
wherein the light source, the optical system, or both, are configurable to perform selective volume illumination, which selects a volume of a 3D-confined illumination of the 3D sample based on the 3D sample to be illuminated and a light field detection (LFD) process to be applied, wherein the volume of the 3D-confined illumination is a selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination for imaging.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection light path is non-collinear to the illumination light path, and the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected by adjusting a 3D optical geometry of the illumination light in relation to the optical system.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected using linear optical excitation.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the optical system comprises a common optical element arranged to (i) receive the illumination light that propagates via the illumination light path to illuminate the 3D sample, (ii) receive the light field that propagates via the detection light path which comes from the illuminated 3D sample, and (iii) adjust the 3D optical geometry of the light source for selecting the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination, and wherein the illumination light propagates along an oblique-angle path through the common optical element, and the detection light path is collinear with an optical axis of the common optical element, forming an angle theta that is greater than 0 with the illumination light path.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected using (i) a focused light beam shaping of the illumination light, and (ii) the 3D optical geometry of the light source adjusted to illuminate multiple sub-regions of the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample in a scan across an entirety of the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample during an exposure time.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the apparatus comprises an endoscope.

7. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the optical system comprises (i) a first optical element arranged to receive the illumination light that propagates via the illumination light path to illuminate the 3D sample, and (ii) a second optical element arranged to receive the light field that propagates via the detection light path which comes from the illuminated 3D sample, wherein the first optical element and the second optical element are arranged to adjust the 3D optical geometry of the illumination light path at an angle θ with the detection light path that is greater than zero for selecting the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein and the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected using (i) a focused light beam shaping of the illumination light, and (ii) a 3D optical geometry of the light source adjusted to illuminate multiple sub-regions of the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample in a scan across an entirety of the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample during an exposure time.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected by illuminating the 3D sample in a patterned or structured fashion resulting in a detected light field covering a desired 3D space of the 3D sample, the patterns or structures usable to enable computational reconstruction of final image data from the detected light fields.

10. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein (i) the illumination light changes photo-chemico-physical properties of one or more contrast agents in the 3D sample, rendering enhanced contrast in the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination, and (ii) an additional illumination light source and associated optical system to provide light field imaging of the contrast agents.

11. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the optical system comprises a plurality of optical elements arranged to adjust the 3D optical geometry to create a plurality of detection light paths each at a respective angle with the illumination light path, and used for (i) selecting the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination, (ii) receiving the light field that propagates via the light detection light path from multiple views associated with the respective angles, and (iii) computational reconstruction of LFD imagery from the multiple views.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus comprises an endoscope.

13. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the optical system comprises a plurality of optical elements arranged to adjust the 3D optical geometry to create a plurality of detection light paths each at a respective angle with the illumination light path, and used for (i) selecting the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination, (ii) receiving the light field that propagates via the light detection light path from multiple views associated with the respective angles, and (iii) computational reconstruction of LFD imagery from the multiple views.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected by adjusting the optical system using (i) a single core fiber to emit the illumination light that propagates via the illumination light path to illuminate the 3D sample, or (ii) a multi-core fiber to emit the illumination light that propagates via the illumination light path to illuminate the 3D sample, or (iii) a combination of one or more of single core fibers and multi-core fibers to emit the illumination light that propagates via the illumination light path to illuminate the 3D sample.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected by adjusting the optical system using (i) a single core fiber to receive the light field which comes from the illuminated 3D sample, or (ii) a multi-core fiber to receive the light field which comes from the illuminated 3D sample, or (iii) a combination of one or more of single core fibers and multi-core fibers to receive the light field which comes from the illuminated 3D sample.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises an endoscope.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected 3D volume of the 3D sample to be particularly excited by the 3D-confined illumination is selected using non-linear multi-photon optical excitation and adjusting a 3D optical geometry of the light source in relation to the optical system.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the detection light path is collinear to the illumination light path.

Assignees

• Univ Southern California

Inventors

• Truong Thai V
• Madaan Sara
• Holland Daniel B
• Fraser Scott E

Classifications

• G06V10/60

  relating to illumination properties, e.g. using a reflectance or lighting model · CPC title

• G06V10/141

  Control of illumination · CPC title

• G06T15/08

  Volume rendering · CPC title

• G06T7/557

  from light fields, e.g. from plenoptic cameras · CPC title

• G06T9/00

  Image coding (bandwidth or redundancy reduction for static pictures H04N1/41; coding or decoding of static colour picture signals H04N1/64; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00) · CPC title