Design of spectrally encoded real-time slit confocal microscopy

파장 코딩된 실시간 슬릿 공초점 현미경의 설계

New real-time confocal microscopy using spectral encoding technique and slit confocal aperture is proposed and designed. Spectral encoding technique, which encodes one-dimensional spatial information of a specimen in wavelength, and slit aperture make it possible to obtain two-dimensional lateral image of the specimen simultaneously at standard video rates without expensive scanning units such as polygon mirrors and galvano mirrors. The working principle and the configuration of the system are explained. The variation in axial responses for the simplified model of the system with normalized slit width is numerically analyzed based on the wave optics theory. Slit width that directly affects the depth discrimination of the system is determined by a compromise between axial resolution and signal intensity from the simulation result. On the assumption of the lateral sampling resolution of 50 nm, design variables and governing equations of the system are derived. The system is designed to have the mapping error less than the half pixel size, to be diffraction-limited and to have the maximum illumination efficiency. The designed system has the FOV of $12.8um{\times}9.6um$, the theoretical axial FWHM of 1.1 um and the lateral magnification of-367.8.