{"637447":{"#nid":"637447","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bending Light for Better Imaging","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology in China have developed a novel imaging system using light beams that can bend, curving around objects and getting brighter as they travel, enhancing image quality and imaging depth.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey call it \u0026ldquo;Airy-beam Tomographic Microscopy\u0026rdquo; \u0026ndash; which is the name of the technology, and the title of a paper published recently in the journal \u003Cem\u003EOptica\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Normally, optical beams move along a straight line in free space, but there\u0026rsquo;s a special type of optical beam, an Airy beam, which is self-accelerating and non-refracting which can move along a bending trajectory,\u0026rdquo; explains Shu Jia, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, and the paper\u0026rsquo;s corresponding author.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJia\u0026rsquo;s lab aims to make an impact on biological and translational research through innovative imaging science. Toward that end, the researchers have advanced their expertise in a wide range of imaging instrumentation and techniques, such as super-resolution, adaptive optics, light-field, miniaturized, light-sheet, computational microscopy and endoscopy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith Airy beam tomographic microscopy (ATM), they have introduced high-resolution, volumetric, inertia-free imaging for biological specimens. Exploiting the highly-adjustable Airy trajectories in the 3D space, the system transforms the conventional telecentric wide-field imaging scheme (which requires sample or focal-plane scanning to acquire 3D information). And the results are dramatic.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We demonstrate that this system can achieve near-diffraction-limited resolution \u0026ndash; so there is no compromise in resolution in all three dimensions, with 10 times improvement in depth of focus,\u0026rdquo; says Jia, who also is a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s because the Airy-beam is non-spreading, or non-diffracting, \u0026ldquo;which means you can capture information from a much deeper range in the biological sample,\u0026rdquo; according to Jia. \u0026ldquo;Also, this system can be very stable, so it would work well for live imaging.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe work builds on the development of self-accelerating Airy beams over the past decade or so, which has led, in recent years, to the emergence of Airy-beam-enabled optical imaging. But these methods haven\u0026rsquo;t fully explored the highly adjustable Airy trajectories in the entire 3D space for volumetric imaging. The Jia lab\u0026rsquo;s work changes that, utilizing the self-accelerating propagation trajectory of an Airy beam to form a perspective view of the object.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETherefore, given sufficient perspective views by manipulating the Airy trajectories, the entire volume can be computationally synthesized in a tomographic manner \u0026ndash; a scheme that exploits the self-acceleration and maneuverability of Airy beams.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Interestingly, here we\u0026rsquo;re just talking about an optical method, but this scheme can be generalized to other wave physics,\u0026rdquo; Jia says. \u0026ldquo;It can be translated to non-optical waveforms, such as acoustic, plasmonic, and electronic waves. We anticipate this system will achieve applications in a wide range of biological systems, spanning molecular, cellular, and tissue levels, offering a promising paradigm for 3D optical microscopy.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIn addition to Jia, the authors included lead author Jian Wang (researcher at the Harbin Institute of Technology, China; former postdoc in Jia lab), Changliang Guo (research fellow at UCLA; former postdoc in Jia lab), Xuanhen Hua and Wenhao Liu (graduate student researchers in Jia lab).\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers introduce cutting edge Airy-beam tomographic microscopy"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers introduce cutting edge Airy-beam tomographic microscopy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers introduce cutting edge Airy-beam tomographic microscopy"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2020-07-31 20:29:15","changed_gmt":"2020-07-31 20:29:15","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"612089":{"id":"612089","type":"image","title":"Shu Jia","body":null,"created":"1538169112","gmt_created":"2018-09-28 21:11:52","changed":"1596227396","gmt_changed":"2020-07-31 20:29:56","alt":"","file":{"fid":"233011","name":"shu jia.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/shu%20jia.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/shu%20jia.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":441773,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/shu%20jia.JPG?itok=hGq61JUY"}}},"media_ids":["612089"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWriter\/Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}