Imaging of a sample through a scattering medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11204319-B2
Application number	US-201816649563-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2018
Priority date	Sep 22, 2017
Publication date	Dec 21, 2021
Grant date	Dec 21, 2021

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for use in imaging a sample. The method comprises illuminating a sample through a scattering medium, or illuminating a sub-surface region of the sample through a scattering surface region of the sample, with a plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation, wherein each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation interacts with the sample, or the sub-surface region of the sample, to generate electromagnetic radiation in the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample. The method comprises measuring, for each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation, a corresponding value representative of a quantity of at least a portion of the emitted electromagnetic radiation and using the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation and the plurality of corresponding measured values to determine an image of the sample, or an image of the sub-surface region of the sample, without using a spatial distribution of the emitted electromagnetic radiation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for use in imaging a sample through a scattering medium, or for use in imaging a sub-surface region of a sample through a scattering surface region of the sample, the method comprising:
illuminating the sample through the scattering medium, or illuminating the sub-surface region of the sample through the scattering surface region of the sample, with a plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation, wherein each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation interacts with the sample, or the sub-surface region of the sample, to generate electromagnetic radiation in the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample;
using single pixel detection to measure, for each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation, a corresponding value representative of a quantity of at least a portion of the emitted electromagnetic radiation; and
using the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation and the plurality of corresponding measured values to determine an image of the sample, or an image of the sub-surface region of the sample, without using a spatial distribution of the emitted electromagnetic radiation,
wherein the incident electromagnetic radiation comprises a range of different wavelengths and the method comprises:
dispersing the different wavelengths in the range of different wavelengths along different paths through the scattering medium and focusing the different wavelengths to the same focal plane or the same focal volume within the sample; or
dispersing the different wavelengths in the range of different wavelengths along different paths through the scattering surface region of the sample and focusing the different wavelengths to the same focal plane or the same focal volume within the sub-surface region of the sample.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation comprises a set of mutually complementary spatial radiation patterns and/or a set of pairs of inverse spatial radiation patterns; and
the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation comprises a full orthonormal basis set of spatial radiation patterns or a subset of a full orthonormal basis set of spatial radiation patterns.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation comprises a plurality of binary spatial radiation patterns.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation comprises a set of Hadamard radiation patterns.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation and the plurality of corresponding measured values to determine the image of the sample or the image of the sub-surface region of the sample comprises using an image construction algorithm or an orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm to construct the image of the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample from the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation and the plurality of corresponding measured values.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein using single pixel detection to measure, for each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation, the corresponding value representative of a quantity of at least a portion of the emitted electromagnetic radiation comprises using a single pixel detector to measure, for each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation, the power or the intensity of the emitted electromagnetic radiation which is incident on the single pixel detector; or
wherein using single pixel detection to measure, for each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation, the corresponding value representative of a quantity of at least a portion of the emitted electromagnetic radiation comprises measuring, for each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation, the power or the intensity of the emitted electromagnetic radiation incident on a single pixel of a multi-pixel detector, or spatially integrating the power or the intensity of the emitted electromagnetic radiation incident on a plurality of the pixels of the multi-pixel detector.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising sequentially illuminating the sample through the scattering medium or sequentially illuminating the sub-surface region of the sample through the scattering surface region of the sample with the plurality of spatial patterns of incident electromagnetic radiation.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
illuminating one side of the sample through the scattering medium or one side of the sub-surface region of the sample through the scattering surface region of the sample; and
measuring the value representative of a quantity of at least a portion of the emitted electromagnetic radiation emitted from the same side of the sample through the same scattering medium or emitted from the same side of the sub-surface region of the sample through the same scattering surface region of the sample.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising using temporal focusing to focus each spatial pattern of incident electromagnetic radiation to the focal plane or the focal volume.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the incident electromagnetic radiation and the emitted electromagnetic radiation have different spectra or one or more different wavelengths;
the incident electromagnetic radiation comprises light;
the incident electromagnetic radiation comprises infrared, visible or UV light;
the emitted electromagnetic radiation comprises light;
the incident electromagnetic radiation comprises infrared, visible or UV light; and
the emitted electromagnetic radiation comprises THz radiation.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the emitted electromagnetic radiation comprises fluorescence generated by the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample as a result of excitation of the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample by the incident electromagnetic radiation;
the incident electromagnetic radiation is configured for two-photon excitation or three-photon excitation of the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample
the incident electromagnetic radiation includes an appropriate wavelength or range of wavelengths for two-photon excitation or three-photon excitation of the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample;
the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample is fluorescent;
the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample comprises one or more exogenous fluorophores or the fluorescent sample comprises one or more endogenous fluorophores; and
the scattering medium or the scattering surface region of the sample is fluorescent.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emitted electromagnetic radiation is generated by the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample as a result of a non-linear optical interaction between the incident electromagnetic radiation and the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample, or wherein the emitted electromagnetic radiation comprises at least one of a harmonic of the incident electromagnetic radiation, a second harmonic of the incident electromagnetic radiation, or a third harmonic of the incident electromagnetic radiation.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the emitted electromagnetic radiation is generated as a result of inelastic scattering by the sample or the sub-surface region of the sample;
the emitted electromagnetic radiation is generated as a result of Raman scattering by the sample or the sub-surface region of the sa

Assignees

• Univ Court Of The Univ Of St Andrews College Gate
• Univ Court Univ St Andrews

Inventors

• Dholakia Kishan

Classifications

• G01N21/4795 Primary

  spatially resolved investigating of object in scattering medium (in vivo A61B) · CPC title

• G02B21/0076 Primary

  arrangements using fluorescence or luminescence · CPC title

• G01N21/6458

  Fluorescence microscopy (fluorescence microscopes per se G02B21/0076 and G02B21/16) · CPC title

• G01N21/1717

  with a modulation of one or more physical properties of the sample during the optical investigation, e.g. electro-reflectance · CPC title

• G01N21/6456

  Spatial resolved fluorescence measurements; Imaging · CPC title