H-PDLC based waveform controllable optical choppers for FDMF microscopy

Jihong Zheng,Yunbo Zhang,Pingyu Tang,Yanmeng Jiang,Aiqing Huang,Yanjun Liu,Songlin Zhuang,Tingting Wang,Guoqiang Sun,Stuart Yin

doi:10.1364/oe.19.002216

Abstract

An electrically waveform controllable optical chopper based on holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal grating (H-PDLC) is presented in this paper. The theoretical analyses and experimental results show that the proposed optical chopper has following merits: (1) controllable waveform, (2) no mechanical motion induced vibrational noise, and (3) multiple-channel integration capability. The application of this unique electrically controllable optical chopper to frequency division multiplexed fluorescent microscopy is also addressed in this paper, which has the potential to increase the channel capacity, the stability and the reliability. This will be beneficial to the parallel detection, especially for dynamic studies of living biological samples.

Highlights

It is well known that optical choppers are very useful for many applications
In order to improve the scanning speed and spatial resolution of confocal microscopy, many techniques have been put forward and fulfilled within the confocal microscopy system, such as adopting Nipkow disk, using microlens arrays or DMD, taking optical fiber bundle, using supercontinuum laser source etc [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. These existing techniques and methods are still insufficient for real-time biological detection in living cells
The major advantages of employing holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) grating for the application of optical choppers are: (1) no mechanical motion induced vibrational noise, (2) polarizationindependent operation, (3) waveform controllable and adjustable capability, (4) high convenience for multiple channel integration, and (5) small footprint and low power consumption

Summary

Introduction

It is well known that optical choppers are very useful for many applications. In addition to the traditional usage of modulating the light beam for increasing the detection signal-to-noise ratio of an optical system, recently, it has been used to realize the frequency division multiplexing operation [1]. The major advantages of employing H-PDLC grating for the application of optical choppers are: (1) no mechanical motion induced vibrational noise, (2) polarizationindependent operation, (3) waveform controllable and adjustable capability, (4) high convenience for multiple channel integration, and (5) small footprint and low power consumption. These advantages will eventually bring the FDMF microscopy with more integrated architecture, higher reliability and temporal resolution.

Multichannel modulation with H-PDLC chopper array

Experimental results of FDMF microscope with H-PDLC based optical chopper

Conclusions