Open AccessPoint-spread function engineering to reduce the impact of spherical aberration on 3D computational fluorescence microscopy imaging
Author(s) -
Shuai Yuan,
Chrysanthe Preza
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.19.023298
Subject(s) - point spread function , microscopy , optics , wavefront , sensitivity (control systems) , depth of field , spherical aberration , microscope , materials science , optical microscope , phase (matter) , physics , scanning electron microscope , lens (geology) , quantum mechanics , electronic engineering , engineering
Wavefront encoding (WFE) with different cubic phase mask designs was investigated in engineering 3D point-spread functions (PSF) to reduce their sensitivity to depth-induced spherical aberration (SA) which affects computational complexity in 3D microscopy imaging. The sensitivity of WFE-PSFs to defocus and to SA was evaluated as a function of phase mask parameters using mean-square-error metrics to facilitate the selection of mask designs for extended-depth-of-field (EDOF) microscopy and for computational optical sectioning microscopy (COSM). Further studies on pupil phase contribution and simulated WFE-microscope images evaluated the engineered PSFs and demonstrated SA insensitivity over sample depths of 30 μm. Despite its low sensitivity to SA, the successful WFE design for COSM maintains a high sensitivity to defocus as it is desired for optical sectioning.