November 20, 2016
Molecular Imaging Hack Makes Cameras Faster
A Rice University technique is able to grab images of chemical processes faster than most laboratory cameras are able to capture them. Super temporal resolution microscopy, (STREM) is the technique that allows researchers to view and gather information about fluorescing molecules at a frame rate that is 20 times faster than the typical lab cameras.
The Rice researchers, including chemist Christy Landes and electrical engineer Kevin Kelly, started with a microscopy technique that views molecules that are smaller than most microscopes can see at "super resolution". Landes says, "Super-resolution microscopy lets us image things smaller than about half of visible light's wavelength - around 250 nanometers... but she noted a barrier: "You couldn't take pictures of anything faster than your frame rate". The Rice lab's new technology uses a rotating phase mask to encode fast dynamics in each camera frame, which will help researchers understand processes that occur at interfaces as they move along two-dimensional surfaces.
The maximum charge-coupled device cameras have a maximum 10 to 100 milliseconds maximum frame rate. Other techniques like electron microscopy can see materials at the super-resolution microscopy and does not destroy the fragile samples in the process. The technique manipulates the phase of light to give the image a more complicated shape. By manipulating the phase over time, it is possible to encode faster time resolutions within a slow image frame. This being said, the Rice researchers designed and built a spinning phase mask. With the spinning phase mask, the resulting images capture dynamic events happening faster than the camera's frame rate. The shape of each image within a frame gives it a distinct time stamp.
The technique uses a quality of microscopy that is familiar to a blurry picture that was taken. Point spread functions are a measure of the shape of images in and out of focus. Shifting in and out of focus happens easily when the subjects are as small as molecules. The size and shape of the blur that comes from the shifting in and out can tell researchers how far from the focal plane the subject is. Phase-mask engineering makes it possible to make focus-dependent blur easier to detect by having a distinct point spread functions. STREM also uses the point spread function that changes from the spinning mask to collect temporary information. With the new technique discovered by Rice researchers, it changes the lobes angels to reveal the time an event has occurred within a time frame.
The Rice researchers, including chemist Christy Landes and electrical engineer Kevin Kelly, started with a microscopy technique that views molecules that are smaller than most microscopes can see at "super resolution". Landes says, "Super-resolution microscopy lets us image things smaller than about half of visible light's wavelength - around 250 nanometers... but she noted a barrier: "You couldn't take pictures of anything faster than your frame rate". The Rice lab's new technology uses a rotating phase mask to encode fast dynamics in each camera frame, which will help researchers understand processes that occur at interfaces as they move along two-dimensional surfaces.
The maximum charge-coupled device cameras have a maximum 10 to 100 milliseconds maximum frame rate. Other techniques like electron microscopy can see materials at the super-resolution microscopy and does not destroy the fragile samples in the process. The technique manipulates the phase of light to give the image a more complicated shape. By manipulating the phase over time, it is possible to encode faster time resolutions within a slow image frame. This being said, the Rice researchers designed and built a spinning phase mask. With the spinning phase mask, the resulting images capture dynamic events happening faster than the camera's frame rate. The shape of each image within a frame gives it a distinct time stamp.
The technique uses a quality of microscopy that is familiar to a blurry picture that was taken. Point spread functions are a measure of the shape of images in and out of focus. Shifting in and out of focus happens easily when the subjects are as small as molecules. The size and shape of the blur that comes from the shifting in and out can tell researchers how far from the focal plane the subject is. Phase-mask engineering makes it possible to make focus-dependent blur easier to detect by having a distinct point spread functions. STREM also uses the point spread function that changes from the spinning mask to collect temporary information. With the new technique discovered by Rice researchers, it changes the lobes angels to reveal the time an event has occurred within a time frame.
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