2013/09/22 by Terence T. W. Wong, Wong, Terence T. W., Andy K. S. Lau +25
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques #Digital Holography and Microscopy #FOS: Physical sciences #Medical Physics (physics.med-ph) #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies #Optical Coherence Tomography Applications #Optics (physics.optics) #Photoacoustic and Ultrasonic Imaging #physics.med-ph #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1309.5579
Manuscript in 28 pages, 5 figures Supplementary information in 9 pages, 9 figures
arxiv created 2013/09/22 · openalex publication_date 2013/09/22 · arxiv updated 2013/09/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Accelerating imaging speed in optical microscopy is often realized at the expense of image contrast, image resolution, and detection sensitivity- a common predicament for advancing high-speed and high-throughput cellular imaging. We here demonstrate a new imaging approach, called asymmetric-detection time-stretch optical microscopy (ATOM), which can deliver ultrafast label-free high-contrast flow imaging with well delineated cellular morphological resolution and in-line optical image amplification to overcome the compromised imaging sensitivity at high speed. We show that ATOM can separately reveal the enhanced phase-gradient and absorption contrast in microfluidic live-cell imaging at a flow speed as high as ~10 m/s, corresponding to an imaging throughput of ~100,000 cells/sec. ATOM could thus be the enabling platform to meet the pressing need for intercalating optical microscopy in cellular assay, e.g. imaging flow cytometry- permitting high-throughput access to the morphological information of the individual cells simultaneously with a multitude of parameters obtained in the standard assay.