Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (2024)

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Subjects Abstract Access options Additional access options: Similar content being viewed by others Continuity equation for the flow of Fisher information in wave scattering 360° structured light with learned metasurfaces Permittivity tensor imaging: modular label-free imaging of 3D dry mass and 3D orientation at high resolution References Acknowledgements Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions Corresponding author Ethics declarations Competing interests Supplementary information Supplementary Information PowerPoint slides PowerPoint slide for Fig. 1 PowerPoint slide for Fig. 2 PowerPoint slide for Fig. 3 PowerPoint slide for Fig. 4 Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article This article is cited by Coincidence imaging for Jones matrix with a deep-learning approach Optimizing multi-user indoor sound communications with acoustic reconfigurable metasurfaces Computational imaging with randomness Pilot-assisted beam and correlation to recover information through scattering media [Invited] Directly and instantly seeing through random diffusers by self-imaging in scattering speckles Comments Editorial Summary Seeing through the fog with non-invasive imaging Associated content The fog clears
  • Letter
  • Published:
  • Jacopo Bertolotti1,2na1,
  • Elbert G. van Putten1na1nAff6,
  • Christian Blum3,
  • Ad Lagendijk1,4,
  • Willem L. Vos1 &
  • …
  • Allard P. Mosk1

Nature volume491,pages 232–234 (2012)Cite this article

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  • Ca2+ imaging

Abstract

Non-invasive optical imaging techniques, such as optical coherence tomography1,2,3, are essential diagnostic tools in many disciplines, from the life sciences to nanotechnology. However, present methods are not able to image through opaque layers that scatter all the incident light4,5. Even a very thin layer of a scattering material can appear opaque and hide any objects behind it6. Although great progress has been made recently with methods such as ghost imaging7,8 and wavefront shaping9,10,11, present procedures are still invasive because they require either a detector12 or a nonlinear material13 to be placed behind the scattering layer. Here we report an optical method that allows non-invasive imaging of a fluorescent object that is completely hidden behind an opaque scattering layer. We illuminate the object with laser light that has passed through the scattering layer. We scan the angle of incidence of the laser beam and detect the total fluorescence of the object from the front. From the detected signal, we obtain the image of the hidden object using an iterative algorithm14,15. As a proof of concept, we retrieve a detailed image of a fluorescent object, comparable in size (50 micrometres) to a typical human cell, hidden 6 millimetres behind an opaque optical diffuser, and an image of a complex biological sample enclosed between two opaque screens. This approach to non-invasive imaging through strongly scattering media can be generalized to other contrast mechanisms and geometries.

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Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (1)
Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (2)
Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (3)
Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (4)

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Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (5)

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360° structured light with learned metasurfaces

Article 11 June 2024

Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers (7)

Permittivity tensor imaging: modular label-free imaging of 3D dry mass and 3D orientation at high resolution

Article Open access 18 June 2024

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. L. Barnes for discussions and for reading the manuscript, and M. Claessens, V. Subramaniam and J. Schleipen for discussions and for help with samples and equipment. This work is supported by the Stichting Technische Wetenschappen and the Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie, which are financially supported by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO). J.B. acknowledges a grant by FIRB-MIUR ‘Futuro in Ricerca’ (project RBFR08UH60). A.P.M. acknowledges a ‘Vidi’ grant from NWO and European Research Council grant no. 279248.

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Author notes

  1. Elbert G. van Putten

    Present address: Present address: Philips Research Laboratories, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.,

  2. Jacopo Bertolotti and Elbert G. van Putten: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Complex Photonic Systems (COPS), MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands,

    Jacopo Bertolotti,Elbert G. van Putten,Ad Lagendijk,Willem L. Vos&Allard P. Mosk

  2. Dipartimento di Fisica, University of Florence, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy,

    Jacopo Bertolotti

  3. Nanobiophysics (NBP), MESA + Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands,

    Christian Blum

  4. FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

    Ad Lagendijk

Authors

  1. Jacopo Bertolotti

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  2. Elbert G. van Putten

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Correspondence to Jacopo Bertolotti.

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Bertolotti, J., van Putten, E., Blum, C. et al. Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers. Nature 491, 232–234 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11578

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Editorial Summary

Seeing through the fog with non-invasive imaging

Imaging through opaque, light-scattering layers is an important capability in many fields, including nanotechnology and the biosciences. Several promising methods are being developed, but typically involve invasive procedures such a placing a detector or nonlinear material behind the scattering layer. Jacopo Bertolotti et al. now demonstrate a non-invasive imaging procedure that makes use of the correlations in the speckled intensity pattern that is produced when laser light passes through a scattering medium. Fluorescent micrometre-sized objects obscured by scattering layers can be imaged by measuring total fluorescence at several different angles of laser incidence and by using an iterative algorithm that disentangles the spatial information of the object and the speckle pattern. The authors successfully construct detailed images of cell-sized fluorescent objects hidden six millimetres behind scattering layers, and a complex biological sample sandwiched between two opaque screens.

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