IP Library › Patent Application 16864618
Patent Application
App. No. 16/864,618

FOURIER PTYCHOGRAPHIC IMAGING SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS

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Patent No.
US None
App. No.
16/864,618
Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods of Fourier ptychographic imaging configured for illuminating a specimen being imaged from a plurality of incidence angles, for acquiring variably-illuminated, low-resolution intensity images of the specimen, and for reconstructing a high-resolution image of the specimen by iteratively determining the high resolution image that is self-consistent with the variably-illuminated, low-resolution intensity images, for example, by updating overlapping regions of variably-illuminated, low-resolution intensity images in Fourier space.

Claims (31)

1 . Fourier ptychographic imaging device, comprising:

a variable illuminator for providing illumination to a specimen from a plurality of incidence angles;

an optical element for filtering illumination issuing from the specimen;

a detector for acquiring a plurality of variably-illuminated, low-resolution intensity images of the specimen based on light filtered by the optical element; and

a processor for computationally reconstructing a high-resolution image of the specimen by iteratively updating overlapping regions in Fourier space with the variably illuminated, low-resolution intensity images.

2 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the optical element is a low numerical aperture objective lens.

3 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 2 , wherein the low numerical aperture objective lens has a numerical aperture between about 0.02 and 0.13.

4 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 2 , wherein the low numerical aperture objective lens has a numerical aperture of about 0.08.

5 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 2 , wherein a difference between the two most adjacent incidence angles in the plurality of incidence angles is between 10% and 90% of an acceptance angle corresponding to a numerical aperture of the low aperture objective lens.

6 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 2 , wherein a difference between the two most adjacent incidence angles in the plurality of incidence angles is between 33% and 66% an acceptance angle corresponding to a numerical aperture of the low aperture objective lens.

7 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 2 , wherein a difference between the two most adjacent incidence angles in the plurality of incidence angles is less than 76% of an acceptance angle corresponding to the numerical aperture of the low aperture objective lens.

8 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the variable illuminator comprises a two-dimensional matrix of light elements, each light element providing illumination from one of the plurality of incidence angles.

9 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 8 , wherein each light element is a set of one or more light-emitting diodes.

10 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 8 ,

wherein each light element comprises three quasi-monochromatic light sources, and;

wherein the processor computationally reconstructs high-resolution images corresponding to the three quasi-monochromatic light sources, and combines the high-resolution images to generate a color high-resolution image.

11 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the variable illuminator comprises a hexagonal array of light elements, each light element providing illumination from one of the plurality of incidence angles.

12 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 11 , wherein each light element is a set of one ore more light-emitting diodes.

13 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the overlapping regions overlap by between 20% and 90% in area.

14 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the overlapping regions overlap by between 2% and 99.5% in area.

15 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the overlapping regions overlap by about 66% in area.

16 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the processor also automatically refocuses to an in-focus plane of the specimen.

17 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is part of the detector.

18 . The Fourier ptychographic imaging device of claim 1 , further comprising a display for displaying the high-resolution image.

19 . A method of Fourier ptychographic imaging, comprising:

illuminating a specimen from a plurality of incidence angles using a variable illuminator;

filtering light issuing from the specimen using an optical element;

capturing a plurality of variably-illuminated, low-resolution intensity images of the specimen using a detector; and

computationally reconstructing a high-resolution image of the specimen by iteratively updating overlapping regions variably-illuminated, low-resolution intensity images in Fourier space.

20 . The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging of claim 19 , wherein each overlapping region corresponds to an approximate optical transfer function of the optical element.

21 - 33 . (canceled)