Abstract
In this work, the design, building, and testing of the most portable, easy-to-build, robust, handheld, and cost-effective Fourier Lightfield Microscope (FLMic) to date is reported. The FLMic is built by means of a surveillance camera lens and additional off-the-shelf optical elements, resulting in a cost-effective FLMic exhibiting all the regular sought features in lightfield microscopy, such as refocusing and gathering 3D information of samples by means of a single-shot approach. The proposed FLMic features reduced dimensions and light weight, which, combined with its low cost, turn the presented FLMic into a strong candidate for in-field application where 3D imaging capabilities are pursued. The use of cost-effective optical elements has a relatively low impact on the optical performance, regarding the figures dictated by the theory, while its price can be at least 100 times lower than that of a regular FLMic. The system operability is tested in both bright-field and fluorescent modes by imaging a resolution target, a honeybee wing, and a knot of dyed cotton fibers.
Highlights
Fourier lightfield microscopy (FLMic) [1,2,3,4] is a reformulation of lightfield microscopy (LMic) [5,6,7,8,9,10,11] featuring the capacity of capturing directly, in a single shot, a collection of orthographic perspective images of 3D specimens
The Fourier Lightfield Microscope (FLMic) can be built from scratch by aligning and adjusting many different elements, such as the illumination system, the sample holder, an infinity-corrected microscope objective (MO), the tube lens, relay lenses, the microlens array (MLA), and a digital camera
The resulting FLMic can be somehow bulky, and with a final cost equal to several thousand dollars. Perhaps this fact has concealed the advantages of FLMic, and delayed the spread of the Fourier lightfield concept, which is potentially suited to application to image infield sample volumes; for instance, living phytoplankton [22], zebrafish embryos [23], neuronal activity [24], and other potential applications such as microplastic screening, food processing chains, colloidal stability in material industries, amongst others
Summary
Fourier lightfield microscopy (FLMic) [1,2,3,4] is a reformulation of lightfield microscopy (LMic) [5,6,7,8,9,10,11] featuring the capacity of capturing directly, in a single shot, a collection of orthographic perspective images of 3D specimens. The resulting FLMic can be somehow bulky, and with a final cost equal to several thousand dollars. Perhaps this fact has concealed the advantages of FLMic, and delayed the spread of the Fourier lightfield concept, which is potentially suited to application to image infield sample volumes; for instance, living phytoplankton [22], zebrafish embryos [23], neuronal activity [24], and other potential applications such as microplastic screening, food processing chains, colloidal stability in material industries, amongst others
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