Open AccessPrinted optics: phantoms for quantitative deep tissue fluorescence imaging
Author(s) -
Brian Bentz,
Anna G. Bowen,
Dergan Lin,
Daniel Ysselstein,
Davin H. Huston,
JeanChristophe Rochet,
Kevin J. Webb
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
optics letters/optics index
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1071-2763
pISSN - 0146-9592
DOI - 10.1364/ol.41.005230
Subject(s) - stereolithography , imaging phantom , materials science , optics , 3d printing , diffuse optical imaging , 3d printed , fluorescence , photopolymer , fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy , biomedical engineering , tomography , polymer , physics , medicine , composite material , polymerization
Three-dimensional (3D) printing allows for complex or physiologically realistic phantoms, useful, for example, in developing biomedical imaging methods and for calibrating measured data. However, available 3D printing materials provide a limited range of static optical properties. We overcome this limitation with a new method using stereolithography that allows tuning of the printed phantom's optical properties to match that of target tissues, accomplished by printing a mixture of polystyrene microspheres and clear photopolymer resin. We show that Mie theory can be used to design the optical properties, and demonstrate the method by fabricating a mouse phantom and imaging it using fluorescence optical diffusion tomography.