Fluorescence microscope and method for imaging a sample

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12306103-B2
Application number	US-202017603596-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2020
Priority date	Apr 17, 2019
Publication date	May 20, 2025
Grant date	May 20, 2025

Abstract

A fluorescence microscope includes excitation and de-excitation light sources designed to generate excitation and de-excitation light distributions, which excite and de-excite fluorophores present in a sample, respectively. An illumination unit is designed to combine the light distributions such that an intensity maximum of the excitation light distribution and an intensity minimum of the de-excitation light distribution are spatially superimposed on one another in an illumination target point. A detector is designed to detect the fluorescence photons as a function of their arrival times. The processor is designed to evaluate the detected fluorescence photons with respect to their arrival times and, based thereon, to control a delay which a light pulse or a light modulation of the de-excitation light distribution has at a position of the illumination target point in relation to a light pulse or a light modulation of the excitation light distribution.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fluorescence microscope, comprising:
an excitation light source, which is designed to generate a pulsed or modulated excitation light distribution, which excites fluorophores present in a sample to spontaneous emission of fluorescence photons,
a de-excitation light source, which is designed to generate a pulsed or modulated de-excitation light distribution, which de-excites the fluorophores excited by the excitation light distribution in the sample in a course of a stimulated emission of fluorescence photons,
an illumination unit, which is designed to combine the excitation light distribution and the de-excitation light distribution in such a way that an intensity maximum of the excitation light distribution and an intensity minimum of the de-excitation light distribution are spatially superimposed on one another in an illumination target point,
a detector, which is designed to detect the fluorescence photons emitted from the illumination target point as a function of arrival times of the fluorescence photons, and
a processor, which is designed to evaluate the fluorescence photons detected in the illumination target point with respect to their arrival times and, based on the evaluation, to control a delay which a light pulse or a light modulation of the de-excitation light distribution has at a position of the illumination target point in relation to a light pulse or a light modulation of the excitation light distribution.

2. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the detector is designed to detect the fluorescence photons emitted from the illumination target point by time-correlated single photon counting as a function of the arrival times.

3. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the detector is designed to detect the arrival times of the fluorescence photons in relation to a starting time, which is defined by the light pulse or the light modulation of the excitation light distribution or the de-excitation light distribution.

4. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor is designed to evaluate the fluorescence photons detected in the illumination target point by comparing a chronological distribution of the fluorescence photons given by the detected arrival times to a target distribution, and by controlling the delay based on the comparison.

5. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the target distribution has, in chronological succession, a distribution maximum, a first decreasing distribution section, and a second, relatively more weakly decreasing distribution section.

6. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the processor is designed to adjust the delay based on the comparison in a manner of a control loop.

7. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the illumination unit contains a phase mask, which is designed to generate the intensity minimum of the de-excitation light distribution.

8. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the intensity minimum of the de-excitation light distribution is an intensity zero point.

9. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a scanning unit designed to scan multiple illumination target points using the excitation light distribution and the de-excitation light distribution, wherein the processor is designed to assemble multiple pixels representing the illumination target points to form a sample image.

10. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the processor is designed to control the delay differently for various regions of the sample image.

11. A method for imaging a sample using a fluorescence microscope, the method comprising:
generating an excitation light distribution, which excites fluorophores present in the sample to spontaneous emission of fluorescence photons,
generating a de-excitation light distribution, which de-excites the fluorophores excited by the excitation light distribution in the sample in a course of a stimulated emission of fluorescence photons,
combining the excitation light distribution and the de-excitation light distribution in such a way that an intensity maximum of the excitation light distribution and an intensity minimum of the de-excitation light distribution are spatially superimposed on one another in an illumination target point,
detecting the fluorescence photons emitted from the illumination target point as a function of arrival times of the fluorescence photons,
evaluating the fluorescence photons detected in the illumination target point with respect to the arrival times, and
controlling a delay which a light pulse or a light modulation of the de-excitation light distribution has at a position of the illumination target point in relation to a light pulse or a light modulation of the excitation light distribution based on the evaluation.

12. A fluorescence microscope, comprising:
an excitation light source, which is designed to generate a pulsed or modulated excitation light distribution, which excites fluorophores present in a sample to spontaneous emission of fluorescence photons,
a de-excitation light source, which is designed to generate a pulsed or modulated de-excitation light distribution, which de-excites the fluorophores excited by the excitation light distribution in the sample in a course of a stimulated emission of fluorescence photons,
an illumination unit, which is designed to combine the excitation light distribution and the de-excitation light distribution in such a way that an intensity maximum of the excitation light distribution and an intensity minimum of the de-excitation light distribution are spatially superimposed on one another in an illumination target point,
a detector, which is designed to detect the fluorescence photons emitted from the illumination target point as a function of arrival times of the fluorescence photons,
a processor, which is designed to evaluate the fluorescence photons detected in the illumination target point with respect to their arrival times and, based on the evaluation, to control a delay which a light pulse or a light modulation of the de-excitation light distribution has at a position of the illumination target point in relation to a light pulse or a light modulation of the excitation light distribution, and
a delay unit, which is controllable by the processor based on the evaluation to set the delay,
wherein the delay unit is connected upstream from the excitation light source or the de-excitation light source, and is designed to output a first trigger signal to the excitation light source or the de-excitation light source to adjust the delay.

13. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the one of the two light sources, which is not connected upstream from the delay unit, is designed to output a second trigger signal to the delay unit, and wherein the delay unit is designed to generate a signal delayed in time in relation to the second trigger signal as the first trigger signal.

14. The fluorescence microscope as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the one of the two light sources, which is not connected upstream from the delay unit, is designed to output the second trigger signal to the processor, and wherein the processor is designed to control the delay unit based on the second trigger signal to generate the first trigger signal.

Assignees

• Leica Microsystems

Inventors

• Foelling Jonas
• Friedrich Lars

Classifications

• G01N21/6408 Primary

  with measurement of decay time, time resolved fluorescence · CPC title

• G02B21/0084

  time-scale detection, e.g. strobed, ultra-fast, heterodyne detection · CPC title

• G02B21/0076

  arrangements using fluorescence or luminescence · CPC title

• G01N21/6458 Primary

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