Dataset Information

Luminescent Surfaces with Tailored Angular Emission for Compact Dark-Field Imaging Devices.

ABSTRACT: Dark-field microscopy is a standard imaging technique widely employed in biology that provides high image contrast for a broad range of unstained specimens¹. Unlike bright-field microscopy, it accentuates high spatial frequencies and can therefore be used to emphasize and resolve small features. However, the use of dark-field microscopy for reliable analysis of blood cells, bacteria, algae, and other marine organisms often requires specialized, bulky microscope systems, and expensive additional components, such as dark-field-compatible objectives or condensers^2,3. Here, we propose to simplify and downsize dark-field microscopy equipment by generating the high-angle illumination cone required for dark field microscopy directly within the sample substrate. We introduce a luminescent photonic substrate with a controlled angular emission profile and demonstrate its ability to generate high-contrast dark-field images of micrometre-sized living organisms using standard optical microscopy equipment. This new type of substrate forms the basis for miniaturized lab-on-chip dark-field imaging devices, compatible with simple and compact light microscopes.

SUBMITTER: Chazot CAC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7877670 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Luminescent Surfaces with Tailored Angular Emission for Compact Dark-Field Imaging Devices.

Chazot Cécile A C CAC Nagelberg Sara S Rowlands Christopher J CJ Scherer Maik R J MRJ Coropceanu Igor I Broderick Kurt K Kim Yunjo Y Bawendi Moungi G MG So Peter P Kolle Mathias M

Nature photonics 20200224 5

Dark-field microscopy is a standard imaging technique widely employed in biology that provides high image contrast for a broad range of unstained specimens<sup>1</sup>. Unlike bright-field microscopy, it accentuates high spatial frequencies and can therefore be used to emphasize and resolve small features. However, the use of dark-field microscopy for reliable analysis of blood cells, bacteria, algae, and other marine organisms often requires specialized, bulky microscope systems, and expensive ...[more]

PMID: 33584848

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Project description:We demonstrate wide-field fluorescent and darkfield imaging on a cell-phone with compact, light-weight and cost-effective optical components that are mechanically attached to the existing camera unit of the cell-phone. For this purpose, we used battery powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to pump the sample of interest from the side using butt-coupling, where the pump light was guided within the sample cuvette to uniformly excite the specimen. The fluorescent emission from the sample was then imaged using an additional lens that was positioned right in front of the existing lens of the cell-phone camera. Because the excitation occurs through guided waves that propagate perpendicular to our detection path, an inexpensive plastic colour filter was sufficient to create the dark-field background required for fluorescent imaging, without the need for a thin-film interference filter. We validate the performance of this platform by imaging various fluorescent micro-objects in 2 colours (i.e., red and green) over a large field-of-view (FOV) of ?81 mm(2) with a raw spatial resolution of ?20 ?m. With additional digital processing of the captured cell-phone images, through the use of compressive sampling theory, we demonstrate ?2 fold improvement in our resolving power, achieving ?10 ?m resolution without a trade-off in our FOV. Further, we also demonstrate darkfield imaging of non-fluorescent specimen using the same interface, where this time the scattered light from the objects is detected without the use of any filters. The capability of imaging a wide FOV would be exceedingly important to probe large sample volumes (e.g., >0.1 mL) of e.g., blood, urine, sputum or water, and for this end we also demonstrate fluorescent imaging of labeled white-blood cells from whole blood samples, as well as water-borne pathogenic protozoan parasites such as Giardia Lamblia cysts. Weighing only ?28 g (?1 ounce), this compact and cost-effective fluorescent imaging platform attached to a cell-phone could be quite useful especially for resource-limited settings, and might provide an important tool for wide-field imaging and quantification of various lab-on-a-chip assays developed for global health applications, such as monitoring of HIV+ patients for CD4 counts or viral load measurements.

Dataset Information

Luminescent Surfaces with Tailored Angular Emission for Compact Dark-Field Imaging Devices.

Publications

Luminescent Surfaces with Tailored Angular Emission for Compact Dark-Field Imaging Devices.

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