KR20110020686A - Ccd device for imaging the multiple focal planes - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A CCD device for imaging multi focal planes is provided to be easily manipulated or handled. CONSTITUTION: A prism beam splitter(415) is located on the first relay lens. A focus lens(417) is located on the prism beam splitter. A beam splitting module(405) comprises an optical plate located on the focus lens. The beam splitting module is installed between a microscope unit and a CCD device.

Description

CCD device for imaging the multiple focal planes

The present invention relates to a CCD device for imaging a plurality of lesions in the fluorescent or non-fluorescent particles, as well as the image for the three-dimensional calculation of blood cells, and more specifically, by subjecting the subject thinly sliced along the Z-axis Provided is a CCD device for imaging a plurality of lesion surfaces that can be configured to form a follicular fragment and simultaneously image it using a single charge-coupled device (CCD).

By using this, a conventional microscope can be used as it is, and the installation effect of the imaging device for high-speed tracking is simple, the installation cost is low, and the device is simple and the operation and handling are expected to be easy.

In addition, thick specimens can be divided into a plurality of slices and imaged at the same time, so the effect that can be imaged with only a single device without regard to the thickness of the specimen is also expected.

In order to study cell kinetics or to analyze the behavior of fluorinated or non-fluorinated particles as a function of surface and environmental properties, it is necessary to visualize them in a given target area.

Real-time imaging of the fluorinated object was typically performed using a scanning fluorescent microscope. However, these systems are complex and require large optical modules to scan at speeds consistent with imaging.

Conventionally, a three-dimensional tracking method for analyzing a diffraction pattern using non-focus imaging has been proposed. If the particles are not present in the lesion plane of the image optical image, a spherical aberration and diffraction phenomenon form a cyclic pattern around the particles. Non-focus imaging methods use the radius of these rings to determine the location of particles outside the lesion plane. Disadvantages of this method include the limited depth (focusing range) that depends on the brightness of the image tracking target, and the organelle affects the diffraction pattern when tracking the particles in the cell. This method is also unsuitable for tracking quantum dots due to the nature of quantum dots having an elongated shape due to the polarization effect.

Another tracking method of the tracking device developed in the prior art is to simultaneously image a plurality of sliced pieces in the z-axis direction. According to this model, the emitted light caused by a single object is split into a plurality of channels. The light of each channel can simultaneously image a plurality of lesion surfaces through a tube lens, and the light of each channel is focused on an individual CCD camera whose position is dispersed in consideration of the position of the tube lens.

At this time, the change of the magnification by the axial displacement of each sensor can be ignored. However, although such equipment does not require large-scale devices, it must be equipped with a plurality of camera equipment, which causes technical difficulties such as time synchronization of cameras and difficulty in analyzing data, thereby further enhancing the optical system. And, due to this, there is a big problem in the cost burden in the construction of the equipment.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the present invention is to provide a high-speed tracking CCD having a beam separation module to be easily detachable with the microscope device while using a conventional microscope device as it is It aims to enable the miniaturization of equipment and the reduction of installation costs.

The present invention is detachably coupled to the microscope portion having an objective lens and a tube lens to the upper and lower parts for observing a subject in order to achieve the object as described above, in the CCD device comprising a collimating lens, A beam splitting module including a prism beam splitter positioned above the first relay lens, at least one focus lens positioned above the prism beam splitter, and at least one optical plate positioned above the focus lens; It is configured to include, the beam separation module provides a CCD device for imaging a plurality of lesion surface installed between the microscope and the CCD element.

Preferably, the beam separation module further includes an adapter tube coupled to the microscope unit to be detachable from the microscope unit.

Preferably, the beam splitting module or the adapter tube is provided with a masking window for selecting light emitted from a subject.

The subject is preferably composed of a plurality of slices arranged in parallel up and down.

The optical plate may be replaced with an optical plate having a thickness corresponding to the position of the subject.

According to the present invention as described above, by using a conventional microscope device as it is to install a high-speed tracking CCD therein, it is possible to reduce the size and installation cost of the equipment, the operation of the equipment is expected to be simple effect.

In particular, there is no need to separately provide a driving unit for improving the speed of the scanning device and the three-dimensional image and tracking device, the device has a very simple effect.

In addition, even in the case of thick specimens requiring a high numerical aperture, it is expected that the effect of obtaining the image of the desired point of the specimen in real time regardless of the thickness.

In addition, despite the use of a single CCD device, it is expected that the effect of being able to easily grasp the behavior of a particular part in three dimensions.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings .

According to the present invention, a plurality of lesion pieces are formed by sculpting an observation thinly along the Z axis, and the lesion pieces can be simultaneously imaged using a single charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor. Can be.

In order to focus all lesion face fragments, suitable optical plates are introduced and the respective channels are adjusted according to the depth of the subject measured by them. That is, the thickness of the plates is adjusted according to the desired depth and the subject to be visualized.

Multiple lesion imaging according to the present invention can be simplified in tracking particles and studying cell kinematics in three dimensions and has other easy applications.

1 relates to the basic principle of a CCD device 100 capable of simultaneous imaging of lesion surfaces or slices in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In the arrangement as shown, the specimen 101 is projected by the objective lens 103 onto the CCD sensor 107 in the image area. It is assumed that among the slices (path surfaces) of the specimen having a thickness corresponding to the depth of the objective lens used, only the slices 105 showed a clear image.

For an object having a numerical aperture of 0.40 or more, the field of depth is usually 3 m or less. In order to have a clear image of different slices 105 in the specimen 101 (here two slices), the CCD sensor 107 must be moved up and down with respect to the objective lens 103. Here, the CCD detector needs to be moved closer to the object for sharper imaging of the slices 105 located closer to the top end, which can be easily seen from the figure.

In short, the present invention is characterized by the ability to simultaneously image several lesions using a single fixed CCD detector.

2 illustrates an example in which an optical plate 201 is applied for movement of a lesion surface in a system 200 capable of simultaneous imaging of a lesion surface or a slice according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the movement of the lesion surface within a given specimen 101 is compensated by the optical plate 201 located in the imaging area between the subject and the detector CCD. That is, the subject may be clearly imaged via the optical plate 201 even if the subject is not moved by the CCD detector or the sensor 107. Here, the optical plate 201 shifts the image plane of the slice 105 from the virtual position to the actual position (distance L).

3 is a view for calculating the moving distance in the vertical direction of the image by the optical plate 201, as shown, the vertical moving distance along the optical axis of the image

ΔL = (1-tgε ₁ '/ tgε ₁ ) × d (1)

Where ε ₁ is the angle of incidence of the light beam on the surface of the optical plate, ε ₁ ′ is the angle of the refracted ray, and d is the thickness of the optical plate. For small angles of incidence, the distance traveled in air (refractive index, n ₁ = 1),

ΔL = (n ₂ -1) × d / n ₂ (2)

to be. If the angle of incidence of light is low, the effect of the plate on the texture of the image may be neglected.

4 is a schematic diagram of a CCD device 400 for simultaneous imaging of four lesion surfaces according to an embodiment of the present invention. The object 101 is projected onto the masking window 411 covering the boundary of the image in order to prevent the plurality of images from overlapping by the objective lens 407 and the tube lens 409. Lenses 407 and 409 are mounted on a conventional microscope 401. The size of the masking window 411 is determined by the size of the CCD sensor 107, the magnification factors of the collimating lens 413 and the focus lens 417, and the number of separated channels.

In the case of a 1 / 2-inch sensor, 1: 1 magnification of relay optics, and four visualization channels, the maximum size of the masking window 411 has a size of 3 × 2 mm ² , wherein the specimen is a masking window 411. ) Is 20 times the size and the field of view (FOV) is 150 × 100 μm ² .

The beam separation module 405 has a prism beam splitter 415 including a mirror, and the relay unit consists of a collimating lens 413 and a series of focus lenses 417. In order to achieve high optical efficiency, a robust yet compact system of the prism beam splitter 415 is required. The prism beam splitter 415 must be firmly fixed by a mirror (not shown) and an optical adhesive, and an air and glass interface No impurities should be present.

5 shows a prototype of the beam splitter block according to the present invention, which includes a collimator lens, a prism beam splitter, a series of focus lenses and a series of optical plates as shown.

The beam splitting module has an imaging port that connects the beam splitter block and the microscope, and the imaging port constitutes an adapter tube 403 to facilitate detachment of the beam splitter block and the microscope from each other.

The separated beam is concentrated on the surface of the CCD detector 13. The optical plate 12 is positioned on the path of each beam to adjust the image plane in the vertical direction to correspond to each channel. The thickness of each plate depends on the location of each lesion surface of each specimen relative to the top surface of the specimen. The thickness of the optical plate is adjusted according to the depth of focus of the microscope, which is approximately M ² times the depth of field (DOF), where M is the magnification of the objective lens.

6 is a photograph showing an actual installation state of the CCD apparatus of the present invention, which is installed in a conventional conventional microscope. This module allows easy attachment and removal of the CCD.

FIG. 7 illustrates an arrangement 701, 703 of images of separate lesion surfaces of a subject (sample) according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the lesion surfaces are simultaneously projected by a horizontal channel to the same CCD sensor surface. It was made possible. The order of the images can be changed by replacing the optical plate.

FIG. 8 illustrates a CCD device 800 according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, two subjects respectively positioned opposite to a normal visualization object are simultaneously viewed while ignoring changes in magnification and refractive index. You can image it. .

If the focus of the upper and lower subjects or slices 823 and 823 'is called F1 and F2, and they are spaced apart by a distance of ΔF, respectively, ΔF is equal to the total width of the subject or slice 823 and 823' to be visualized. . The upper portion of the slice 823 in the specimen 801 is projected onto the masking window 829 by the objective lens 803 and the tube lens 811. The lower part of the slice 823 'is projected onto the same masking window 829 by the objective lens 803' and the tube lens 811 '. The beams projected from the two channels are irradiated upwardly via a series of reflective mirrors 825 and 827, image inverting system 805, and dichroic beam splitter 807. The image inverting system 805 deflects the beam 90 degrees and serves to rotate the image 180 degrees about the axis.

The system is a reflective mirror system having a single penta prism, or two adjacent mirrors while maintaining an angle of 45 degrees to each other, or a dove prism (reflective prism for inverting an image).

The emitted light is naturally separated by the dichroic filter 809. Each beam then passes through a collimating lens 813, a prism beam splitter 815, 815 ′, a series of focus lenses 817, 817 ′ and a series of optical plates 819, 819 ′ of the visualized focal plane. Image the axis by changing its position according to its position. Beams incident from all channels are concentrated on the surface of the CCD detector 821.

Diffraction image samples for each lesion plane of 1 μm sized fluorescent particles with respective lesion planes are shown in FIG. 9. The images were sequentially imaged from the top of each of the four lesion surfaces, and the interval between the image surfaces was 7.5 µm, and a microscope was used. FIG. 10 is an image of each lesion surface of a 1 탆 size specimen by a CCD device of the present invention, and the history is represented by a graph. As can be seen from Fig. 10, the images on the separated slices are imaged in a time-intermittent manner, and the graphs are plotted in a graph so that the history of the specific portions of the target image can be traced, and thus the specific portions in the three-dimensional space. The behavior of can be easily identified.

The present invention is characterized in that the three-dimensional behavior can be sufficiently understood through a single CCD device.

Although the present invention has been described in more detail with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not necessarily limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The protection scope of the present invention should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the equivalent scope should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the basic principle of a CCD device capable of simultaneous imaging of a lesion or slice according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic view of applying an optical plate to the schematic diagram of FIG.

3 is a view for calculating the moving distance in the vertical direction of the image by the optical plate of an embodiment of the present invention,

4 is a schematic diagram of a CCD device for simultaneous imaging of four lesion surfaces according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a beam splitter block photo according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 is a photograph showing the actual installation state of the CCD device of the present invention,

7 is a view showing an arrangement of separated lesion image of a subject (test piece) according to the present invention;

8 is a schematic diagram of a CCD device for simultaneous imaging of four lesions according to another embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a diagram illustrating a diffraction image sample for each lesion surface of fluorescent particles having a size of 1 μm having respective lesion surfaces according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an image of each lesion surface of a 1 탆 size specimen by a CCD device of the present invention, and the history is represented by a graph.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100, 200, 400, 800: CCD device

101, 801: Psalm 103, 407, 803, 803 ': objective lens

105, 823, 823 ': slice or lesion or subject

107, 821: CCD sensor or detector 201, 819, 819 ': optical plate

401: microscope 403: adapter tube

405: beam separation module 409, 811, 811 ': tube lens

411, 829: masking window 413: collimation lens

415, 807: prism beam splitter 417: focus lens

701, 703: Image plane image array 805: Image inverting system

809: dichroic filter 825, 827: reflective mirror

Claims (5)

In a CCD device detachably coupled to a microscope unit having an objective lens and a tube lens for observing a subject, and having a CCD element, Collimation lens, A prism beam splitter positioned on the first relay lens; At least one focus lens positioned above the prism beam splitter, and A beam separation module having at least one optical plate positioned on the focus lens; And the beam separation module is installed between the microscope unit and the CCD element. The method of claim 1, The beam separation module is a CCD device for imaging a plurality of lesion surface, characterized in that further provided with an adapter tube that is detachably coupled to the microscope portion on a surface adjacent to the microscope portion. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The beam splitting module or the adapter tube is a CCD device for imaging a plurality of lesion surface, characterized in that the built-in masking window for selecting the light emitted from the subject. The method of claim 1, And the subject is composed of a plurality of slices arranged in parallel up and down. The method of claim 1, And the optical plate is replaceable with an optical plate having a corresponding thickness according to the position of the subject.

Images