Shack-Hartmann sensor based optical quality testing of whole slide imaging systems for digital pathology

Abstract

Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) systems are used in the emerging field of digital pathology for capturing high-resolution images of tissue slides at high throughput. We present a technique to measure the optical aberrations of WSI systems using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor as a function of field position. The resulting full-field aberration maps for the lowest order astigmatism and coma are analyzed using nodal aberration theory. According to this theory two coefficients describe the astigmatism and coma inherent to the optical design and another six coefficients are needed to describe the cumulative effects of all possible misalignments on astigmatism and coma. The nodal aberration theory appears to fit well to the experimental data. We have measured and analyzed the full-field aberration maps for two different objective lens-tube lens assemblies and found that only the optical design related astigmatism coefficient differed substantially between the two cases, but in agreement with expectations. We have also studied full-field aberration maps for intentional decenter and tilt and found that these affect the misalignment coefficient for constant coma (decenter) and the misalignment coefficient for linear astigmatism (tilt), while keeping all other nodal aberration theory coefficients constant.