Tetrapod Phase Mask Microscopy

Stanford researchers at the Moerner Lab have designed a family of point spread functions (PSFs), the Tetrapod PSFs, for high precision three-dimensional position measurement of individual particle positions over a large, customizable depth range in optical microscopy. These designs have a tunable depth range up to an unprecedented 20 ?m, which is over 7x larger than current state of the art.

As proof-of-concept, the team performed flow profiling in a microfluidic channel and showed scan-free tracking of single quantum-dot-labeled phospholipid molecules on the surface of living, thick mammalian cells. This invention is primarily aimed at researchers in the life sciences.

Figure

Phase Mask can be simply implemented with a tilted light-sheet microscope (LSM)

Stage of Research