AOTF-based optical system of a microscope module for multispectral imaging techniques

Abstract

Multi-spectral imaging techniques are widely used in microscopy for many applications. One of the most widespread spectral elements for this purpose is an imaging acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). AOTF-based contrast visualization is especially effective when used together with other imaging techniques. Simultaneous utilization of two or more imagers requires optical coupling to provide point-to-point matching of the obtained images. Small linear and angular aperture of AOTF additionally hampers the development of multi-sensor imaging systems for microscopy. In this paper, we present a compact optical system which allows to integrate AOTF-based spectral imager into the schemes of conventional microscopes and provide high-quality spectral image of the same scale as in another, for example, wideband channel. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated experimentally.