Deep Penetration Microscopic Imaging with Non-Diffracting Airy Beams

Abstract

We report a deep penetration microscopic imaging method with a non-diffracting Airy beam. The direct mapping of volume imaging in free space shows that the axial imaging range of the Airy beam is approximately 4 times that of the traditional Gaussian beam along the axial direction while maintaining a narrow lateral width. Benefiting from its non-diffracting property, the microscopic imaging with Airy beam illumination can acquire image structures through turbid medium and capture a volumetric image in a single frame. We demonstrate the penetration ability of the Airy microscopic imaging through a strongly scattering environment with 633 nm and 780 nm lasers. The performances of the volumetric imaging method were evaluated using HeLa cells and isolated mouse kidney tissue. The thick sample was scanned layer by layer in the Gaussian mode, however, in the Airy mode, the three-dimensional (3D) structure information was projected onto a two-dimensional (2D) image, which vastly increased the volume imaging speed. To show the characteristics of the Airy microscope, we performed dynamic volumetric imaging on the isolated mouse kidney tissue with two-photon.