Technology Overview

This novel technology—phase-shifted optical beatings of Bessel beams (PS-OB3)-based two-photon fluorescence tomography (TPFT)—offers deep tissue imaging at high speed and high resolution. The PS-OB3-based TPFT imaging method achieves this through the phase shifted optical beatings of Bessel beams, which encode the tissue volumetric information in the spatial frequency domain.

As beams tend to scatter when scanning thicker samples (resulting in low quality images), the self-reconstructing nature of Bessel beams is able to overcome this issue and provide high-resolution and high-quality imaging. The method has been proven to offer a three-fold improvement in image depth when scanning scattering media (such as fluorescent bead phantom) as compared to conventional methods like point-scan two-photon fluorescence imaging using Gaussian excitation beams.

The technology owner is currently looking for opportunities to out-license this technology. The field of the invention is general to applications of nonlinear optical imaging in many fields, such as biology and medicine, agriculture, food and forensic sciences, water and environment, materials and semi-conductor industries with high speed, super-deep, depth-resolved imaging abilities

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

• Use of self-healing Bessel beams overcomes issues of low resolution/quality due to scattering;
• Non-invasive, deep tissue imaging can be achieved without needing to rotate the sample or control incident light direction;
• Features both reflectance and transmission modes, and can be used for non-linear tomographic imaging of any sample tissue or object;
• Offers enhanced axial resolution and better signals at deeper positions as compared to conventional two-photon fluorescence.

Potential Applications

• Super-resolution 3D imaging of sample tissue at high speed;
• Besides imaging diseased tissue for detection, tissue imaging is in demand for the testing and cure of infectious diseases—a focus that has only heightened after the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide. There is also a need for advanced microscopy and imaging in other fields of research, such as materials science and life sciences.

Customer Benefits

The ability of PS-OB3-based TPFT technique for deeper imaging has also been demonstrated in bio-tissues (e.g., chicken skin and brain tissue). With the generality of z-scan-free optical sectioning effect, PS-OB3 technique in TPFT can be readily extended to practically any other nonlinear optical imaging modalities for super-resolution and deeper 3D imaging in biological and biomedical systems.