title: Adaptive optics confocal microscopy using direct wavefront sensing.
abstract: Optical aberrations due to the inhomogeneous refractive index of tissue degrade the resolution and brightness of images in deep-tissue imaging. We introduce a confocal fluorescence microscope with adaptive optics, which can correct aberrations based on direct wavefront measurements using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor with a fluorescent bead used as a point source reference beacon. The results show a 4.3× improvement in the Strehl ratio and a 240% improvement in the signal intensity for fixed mouse tissues at depths of up to 100 μm.
authors.affiliation: Jack Baskin School of Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street MS:SOE2, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA. taoxd@soe.ucsc.edu
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Bautista
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Azucena
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.forename: Diana C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kubby
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D055620:Optical Phenomena