Laser Scanning Stereo Microscope Capable of Real-time 3D Imaging
A few days ago, the super-resolution imaging team of the State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photon Technology of Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully developed a two-photon excitation laser scanning real-time stereo microscope.
When a laboratory mouse sees an image of a cat, how does its brain work? How is this new information transmitted in a neural network containing tens of millions of neurons? How to use an optical microscope to peek into the mystery? This is Contemporary life science research poses new challenges to optical microscopy imaging technology.
A few days ago, the super-resolution imaging team of the State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photon Technology of Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully developed a two-photon excitation laser scanning real-time stereo microscope. "It allows us to observe the dynamic three-dimensional microscopic world in real time like watching a three-dimensional movie, without light slices and time-consuming three-dimensional image reconstruction." Dr. Yang Yanlong, a core member of the team, said. It turned out that conventional light microscopy suffered from two problems. One problem is that the imaging depth of field is very small, and only a thin layer of the sample can be seen at a time, and the three-dimensional distribution of the sample cannot be directly seen. Another more difficult problem is: in order to imitate the human perception of the three-dimensional world through binocular vision, the Bessel beam needs to be scanned in two directions. If the time delay of imaging in these two directions is too large, it will be fleeting The fluorescent signal cannot be accurately captured and positioned. For example, two-photon excitation laser scanning fluorescence microscopy has been widely used in neuroimaging and other fields since it was proposed in the 1990s. To complete 3D imaging, it usually requires dozens or even hundreds of layers of 2D images to be superimposed and reconstructed. The entire 3D imaging process takes at least a few minutes, and the speed is very slow, so it cannot meet the dynamic 3D imaging of living organisms." Dr. Yang Yanlong explained explain.
The super-resolution imaging team of Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics, led by researchers Baoli Yao and Tong Ye, used an elongated focused laser beam——Bessel beam to complete the scanning. Slicing, clear imaging of thick 3D samples at one time. Researchers from Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics overcame difficulties and designed a complex laser scanning device, which realized three-degree-of-freedom rapid scanning of Bessel beams, and can switch between dual viewing angles on the order of milliseconds (thousandths of a second).
What does this mean? In layman's terms, if a bee flies past us, we need two eyes to see it at the same time, so that the brain can accurately perceive its position. If the left and right eyes open and close alternately, the brain will It is impossible to accurately determine the position of the bees. The switching of the new technical means at the "millisecond level" enables the dual-view imaging to be completed in an instant, so that the three-dimensional dynamic changes of the sample can be captured in real time.
This technology realizes a real-time stereomicroscopic imaging and display system based on dual-view laser scanning for the first time, and its three-dimensional imaging speed is one to two orders of magnitude higher than the traditional point-by-point scanning method. That is to say, the imaging process that used to take minutes to tens of minutes can now be completed in a few seconds. This two-photon stereomicroscopic imaging system provides a new observation tool for the three-dimensional real-time imaging and display of living organisms, which can be used in Observe the passing of transient neural signals through neural networks. It is understood that this research has been supported by the "Hundred Talents Program" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. From the verification of basic principles, breakthroughs in key technologies, to the completion of principle prototypes, it has gone through various links from basic research to application integration.
At present, the research group is conducting cooperative research on biomedical applications with relevant scientific research institutions at home and abroad, and hopes to apply this technology to the field of three-dimensional rapid imaging and display of living organisms as soon as possible.
