Fraunhofer Center for Microelectronic and Optical Systems for Biomedicine
On the left in the picture you can see the ultra-compact microscope enabled by microoptics, developed at Fraunhofer MEOS, as well as a raw image in the middle and the composite image of a sample created with it at the right.
Ultra-compact microscope enabled by microoptics
Raw image (middle) & stitched image (right) of a sample
Perspektive view of the NED inchworm drive, showing NED block and the shuttle in the middle
NED inchworm drive
Perspective view, showing NED block and the shuttle in the middle.
Compact bioimaging solutions
Motivation: portable microscopy solutions without quality restrictions
Light microscopy, a widely used tool in biomedicine, life science and material research, utilizes tabletop devices in dedicated laboratories or imaging units, which require taking the sample to the analytical instrument.
Modern applications such as point-of-care diagnostics or long-term cell culture monitoring demand integrated solutions improving portability and flexibility to take the imaging instrument to the sample.
Microscope size reduction by simply downscaling the optical elements does reduce either the available field of view or the resolution, both compromising overall imaging performance and analytical usability. Therefore, we focus on the development of compact digital microscopy solutions providing high-resolution imaging of large object areas via different imaging modes adapted for various applications.
Key features:
- micro-objective array optics with sub-µm resolution based on wafer-level micro-optics technology
- miniaturized multi-modal illumination systems for bright field, dark field and fluorescence imaging
- MEMS based actuation for high accuracy scanning
- large area scanning (cm² to whole object slides) with compact systems
- adapted image stitching algorithms for image reconstruction during scanning
- application specific image analysis implementable
Applications for miniaturized fluorescence microscopes
Medical diagnostics
- identification of low concentrated pathogens at point-of-care
- virtual microscopy of whole slides for digital pathology
Life science research
- long-term live-cell culture monitoring
- high throughput screenings via parallelized imaging
Environmental
- rapid-response wastewater and water quality analysis
Veterinary medicine
- on-site investigation of farm animal fertility
Food & agricultural
- local quality control of e.g. yeast
Manufacturing
- low-profile microscopic integration for space-constrained material analysis
References:
1. S. Schacke, R. Berlich, B. Höfer, P. Dannberg, B. Zaage, C. Damm, E. Beckert, N. Danz, "Towards an ultrathin multi-aperture microscope," Proc. SPIE 11243, 1124311, 2020
2. R. Berlich, A. Brückner, R. Leitel, A. Oberdörster, F. Wippermann, A. Bräuer, "Multi-aperture microoptical system for close-up imaging," Proc. SPIE 9192, 91920E, 2014