Vectorial Fourier ptychography for high-resolution widefield polarization imaging in pathology and research

Unmet Need

In the United States, over 10,000 diagnostic imaging centers rely on microscopy for diagnostics, with 70-80% of healthcare decisions dependent on timely pathology-based tests, a demand that is expected to grow. Fourier ptychography offers a solution by merging multiple low-resolution images to create detailed, high-resolution composites across wide fields of view. However, this technique does not exploit polarization imaging, which captures additional detail in anisotropic tissue samples common in pathology. There is a need for a method that integrates Fourier ptychography with polarization imaging to enable high-resolution imaging of complex samples with wide fields of view.

Technology

Duke inventors have developed an advanced imaging system for high-resolution, widefield imaging of complex samples. This is intended to be used in healthcare diagnostic and biomedical research applications and is compatible with existing light and fluorescence microscopes. Specifically, this technology is a complete solution to integrate polarization imaging with Fourier ptychography (hardware and software). Vectorial Fourier ptychography (vFP) utilizes variable-angle illumination to recover the quantitative complex polarimetric properties of a specimen at high resolution in a large field-of-view. Variable angle illumination is achieved with an array of light and two polarization filters, and corresponding software includes an algorithm designed to solve for polarization properties of the sample at each spatial location. Properties may include sample phase, sample retardance, sample orientation, and sample diattenuation. This has been demonstrated in a variety of samples including the USAF resolution test target, mineral samples (randomly oriented monosodium urate crystals), and thin sections of fixed cardiac tissue to detect plaques – an important diagnostic indicator of the presence of cardiac amyloidosis.

Other Applications

This technology could be used for a variety of biomedical applications including digital pathology, hematology, immunohistochemistry and neuroanatomy.

Advantages

• Compatibility: The computational imaging method can be applied to any existing microscope hardware.
• Efficiency: It enables faster imaging by eliminating the need for step-and-repeat tiling strategies to cover large areas.
• Enhanced Resolution: It improves spatial resolution across large fields-of-view beyond the standard optical limits imposed by an imaging lens, while also reducing image complexity.
• Image Quality: The system removes the effects of polarization-dependent aberrations from final image reconstructions, resulting in clearer and more accurate images.