title: Disposable optics for microscopy diagnostics.
abstract: The point-of-care testing (POCT) is having increasing role on modern health care systems due to a possibility to perform tests for patients conveniently and immediately. POCT includes lot of disposable devices because of the environment they are often used. For a disposable system to be reasonably utilized, it needs to be high in quality but low in price. Optics based POCT systems are interesting approach to be developed, and here we describe a low-cost fabrication process for microlens arrays for microscopy. Lens arrays having average lens diameter of 222 μm with 300 μm lens pitch were fabricated. The lenses were characterized to have standard deviation of 0.06 μm in height and 4.61 μm in diameter. The resolution limit of 3.9μm is demonstrated with real images, and the images were compared with ones made with glass and polycarbonate lens arrays. The image quality is at the same level than with the glass lenses and the manufacturing costs are very low, thus making them suitable for POCT applications.
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Pauliina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vilmi
authors.affiliation: The Center for Machine Vision Research, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Varjo
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Rafal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sliz
authors.affiliation: The Center for Machine Vision Research, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hannuksela
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Tapio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fabritius
mesh_terms: D019719:Diagnostic Equipment / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007909:Lenses / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011076:Polycarboxylate Cement / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D011076:Polycarboxylate Cement; C005506:polycarbonate