Granted Patent B2

US 12,282,147 · App. 17/780,044 · Granted Apr 22, 2025

Inventors: Weidong Yang (Penn Valley, PA); Andrew Ruba (Philadelphia, PA)

Assignee: Temple University-Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education

G02B21/361G01N21/6458G02B21/08G02B21/16

Abstract

Claims (37)

1. A photon enhancement apparatus, comprising:

a housing having first and second ends;

first and second lenses having a same focal length, positioned concentrically within the housing separated by a distance equal to 2× the focal length;

a reflective component positioned at the second end of the housing at a distance of one focal length from the second lens; and

an imaging platform having at least one transparent region configured to hold a sample, positioned in optical communication with the housing, at a distance of one focal length from the first lens.

2. The photon enhancement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the reflective component is a mirror.

3. The photon enhancement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second lenses are biconvex lenses.

4. The photon enhancement apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a multi-point adjuster mount fixedly connected to the housing.

5. A microscope, comprising:

an imaging platform having at least one transparent region;

a light source configured to illuminate the at least one transparent region;

an objective positioned below the at least one transparent region, configured to gather light from the at least one transparent region;

a detector positioned below the objective; and

a photon enhancement apparatus, comprising:

a housing having first and second ends;

first and second lenses having a same focal length, positioned concentrically within the housing separated by a distance equal to 2× the focal length; and

a reflective component positioned at the second end of the housing at a distance of one focal length from the second lens;

wherein the transparent platform is positioned in optical communication with the housing, at a distance of one focal length from the first lens.

6. The microscope of claim 5 , wherein the reflective component directs at least one photon to the detector.

7. The microscope of claim 5 , further comprising:

a dichroic reflective component positioned between the objective and the detector, configured to direct light from the light source to the platform; and

a tube lens positioned between the detector and the dichroic reflective component.

8. The microscope of claim 7 , further comprising a filter positioned between the dichroic reflective component and the detector, configured to select photons of different wavelengths.

9. The microscope of claim 7 , further comprising a multi-point adjuster mount fixedly attached to the photon enhancement apparatus.

10. The microscope of claim 5 , wherein the microscope is an optical microscope, confocal microscope, single plane illumination microscope, fluorescence microscope, spinning disc confocal/fluorescence microscope, upright microscope, super-resolution microscope, stochastic optical reconstruction microscope, stimulated emission depletion microscope, photoactivated light microscope, or 4Pi microscope.

11. A method for increasing a number of photons recognized by a detector in a microscopy imaging technique, the method comprising:

(i) illuminating a platform having a transparent region with a plurality of photons, the platform comprising a sample, in an illumination direction;

(ii) collecting at least a portion of photons transmitted through the platform in a photon enhancement apparatus comprising first and second lenses and a mirror;

(iii) reflecting, with the mirror, at least a portion of the collected photons back through the platform in a direction opposite the illumination direction;

(iv) collecting, with a detector, photons emitted, reflected, and/or scattered by the sample and the photons directed by the photon enhancement apparatus; and

(v) forming respective portions of a microscopy image representing the amount of photons collected from respective elements of the sample.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the illumination step comprises transmitting light through a lens.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sample is a planar sample, and the detector is spaced from the sample in a direction transverse to the plane of the sample.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

(vi) calculating a scattering parameter using a mathematical expression which links the components of the microscopy image and the values of a scattering parameter for multiple respective elements of the sample, the respective value of the scattering parameter for each element of the sample being indicative of a tendency of that element of the sample to scatter photons; and

(vii) forming an enhanced image of the sample using the obtained values of the scattering parameter.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mathematical expression expresses the value of the scattering parameter for a given said element of the sample by employing one or more average parameters, each indicating an average of the value of the scattering parameter over a given said element of the sample by employing one or more average parameters, each indicating an average of the value of the scattering parameter over a corresponding region which encircles a line extending parallel to the illumination direction to the given element of the sample.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (62)