High-speed 3D Imaging with High Precision and Penetration
Opportunity
Advances in disease detection and ageing populations have led to steady increase in demand for optical imaging techniques. Beyond the biomedical field, optical imaging is also used in agriculture, food and forensic science industries. Given the wide application of multimodal imaging techniques involving optical imaging, it is foreseeable that the global market for multimodal imaging will reach US$2.9 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 4.4%.
However, technical limitations exist that may inhibit growth of the market. Challenges for conventional imaging techniques include shallow depth of penetration (optical coherence tomography), and that samples need to be rotated for optimal imaging (light microscopy).
Technology
Optical beating tomography (OBT) offers high-speed 3D imaging of samples with a greater penetration depth compared to conventional methods. OBT is available as either monochromatic light-OBT, or frequency domain-OBT.
Illuminated by optical beats in the axial direction, the sample’s depth information is obtained by varying the beats along the spatial frequency. To increase penetration depth, non-diffractive Bessel beams can be used to generate the optical beats. By implementing inverse Fourier transform, the depth-resolved information can also be retrieved quickly.
There are no specific requirements for samples that can be used for OBT. OBT can therefore be combined with other technologies such as multiphoton fluorescence microscopy and coherent Raman scattering microscopy for multimodal imaging.
Download
