Stochastically Structured Illumination Microscopy scan less super resolution imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces S2IM, a super-resolution microscopy method that leverages natural, uncontrolled movements like eye saccades to achieve high-resolution imaging without complex illumination control.

Contribution

S2IM is a novel super-resolution technique that exploits stochastic target movements, eliminating the need for precise illumination control in microscopy.

Findings

Achieved 1.91x resolution enhancement with S2IM.

Validated S2IM in a phantom eye model mimicking ocular saccades.

Potential applications extend to active matter and astronomical observation.

Abstract

In Super-resolution, a varying-illumination image stack is required. This enriched the dataset typically necessitates precise mechanical control and micron scale optical alignment and repeatability. Here, we introduce a novel methodology for super-resolution microscopy called Stochastically Structured Illumination Microscopy (S2IM), which bypasses the need for illumination control instead exploiting the random, uncontrolled movement of the target object. We tested our methodology within the clinically relevant ophthalmoscopic setting, harnessing the inherent saccadic motion of the eye to induce stochastic displacement of the illumination pattern on the retina. We opted to avoid human subjects by utilizing a phantom eye model, featuring a retina composed of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) retinal neurons, and replicating the ocular saccadic movements by custom actuators. Our findings demonstrate that S$^2$IM unlocks scan-less super-resolution with a resolution enhancement of 1.91, with promising prospects also beyond ophthalmoscopy applications such as active matter or atmospheric/astronomical observation.