Open AccessDesign and evaluation of new color-corrected rigid endomicroscopic high NA GRIN-objectives with a sub-micron resolution and large field of view
Author(s) -
Gregor Matz,
Bernhard Messerschmidt,
Herbert Groß
Publication year - 2016
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.24.010987
Subject(s) - optics , numerical aperture , image quality , focus (optics) , materials science , image resolution , refractive index , diffraction , field of view , aperture (computer memory) , computer science , physics , computer vision , wavelength , image (mathematics) , acoustics
We demonstrate new GRIN-based endomicroscopic objectives for high resolution single photon fluorescence imaging modalities. Two endoscopic optical design approaches are presented in detail utilizing firstly diffractive and secondly refractive optical elements for the color correction in a spectral range from 488 nm to 550 nm. They are compared with their precursor device experimentally and by simulation. Inherent aberrations for off-axis field points could be lowered remarkably compared with the values of the state-of-the-art system by increasing the intrinsic optical complexity but maintaining the outer spatial dimensions. As a result, those presented objectives predict a diffraction-limited imaging of objects up to 300 μm in diameter with a numerical aperture of 0.8 while keeping an overall outer diameter of the assembly at 1.4 mm. Lastly, confocal fluorescence imaging experiments focus on the comparison between the numerical predicted and the practically achieved quality parameters.