In this work we present a new microscope based on Nano-illumination microscopy (NIM), i.e., an innovative technique based on a 2D array of nano-Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) used to illuminate a sample. The key point of this method is that the pitch of the LED array fixes the spatial resolution. So, potentially, with LED pitches lower than the diffraction limit, super resolution could be achieved. While nanometer sized LEDs are not available yet, we present a prototype based on optical downscaling of a single 5µm lateral size LED. Extended Field-of-View (FOV) is obtained by mechanical movement with nanopositioners. Aspects of NIM microscopy such as its size, its flexibility in the sensing hardware or its potential for fluorescence, make it a perfect candidate to enhance emerging sensing applications in different fields, but especially life science (medical imaging, genomics, ...). We demonstrate the possibilities of the NIM technique with patterns as well as with biological samples.
This work presents a compact low-cost and straightforward shadow imaging microscopy technique based on spatially resolved nano-illumination instead of spatially resolved detection. Independently addressable nano-LEDs on a regular 2D array provide the resolution of the microscope by illuminating the sample in contact with the LED array and creating a shadow image in a photodetector located on the opposite side. The microscope prototype presented here is composed by a GaN chip with an 8x8 array of 5μm-LEDs with 10 μm pitch light sources and a commercial CMOS image sensor with integrated lens used as a light collector. We describe the microscope prototype and analyze the effect of the sensing area size on image reconstruction.
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