Rapid spectrally encoded fluorescence imaging using a wavelength-swept source

Abstract

We present rapid imaging of fluorescent samples using spectral encoding (SE). A near-IR wavelength-swept source in used to preserve the SE of the position, despite Stokes shifts. To validate this approach, we imaged fluorescent PbS quantum dot solutions at concentrations down to 0.5+/-0.1micromol/L. This simple configuration allowed acquisition rates of up to 9920 lines of 1024 pixels per second to create high-resolution images. This spectrally encoded setup could be easily miniaturized for endoscopy, thus combining high-resolution fluorescence with confocal reflectance imaging at unmatched acquisition speed.