Highly focused beam generated with a height tuned micro-optical structure for high contrast microscopic imaging

Abstract

Light sheet illumination technology improves the signal-to-noise ratio, resolution, and reduces scattered backgrounds for biological microscopic detection system. Here, we developed a novel micro-optical structure to produce a focused and uniform beam for the enhancement of imaging contrast. The beam intensity and working distance can be modified by adjusting the height and period of the structure. Our experiments successfully recorded structured light illumination, demonstrating the ability of the structure to capture high-contrast imaging data. We compared the light fields generated with and without the structure to assess the imaging quality, revealing a maximum 4.78-fold improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. This work provides a potential method for high-resolution and high-contrast light sheet fluorescence microscopic detection.