Hinsdale T, Malik BH, Olsovsky C, Jo JA, Maitland KC, “Volumetric structured illumination microscopy enabled by a tunable-focus lens,” Optics Letters, 40(21): 4943-4946, 2015.
We present a mechanical-scan-free method for volumetric imaging of biological tissue. The optical sectioning is provided by structured illumination, and the depth of the imaging plane is varied using an electrically tunable-focus lens. We characterize and evaluate the ability of this axial-scanning mechanism in structured illumination microscopy and demonstrate its ability to perform subcellular resolution imaging in oral mucosa ex vivo. The proposed mechanism can potentially convert any wide-field microscope to a 3D-imaging platform without the need for mechanical scanning of imaging optics and/or sample.