High-speed device synchronization in optical microscopy with an open-source hardware control platform
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Azimuthal beam scanning eliminates the uneven excitation field arising from laser interference in through-objective total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. The same principle can be applied to scanning angle interference microscopy (SAIM), where precision control of the scanned laser beam presents unique technical challenges for the builders of custom azimuthal scanning microscopes. Accurate synchronization between the instrument computer, beam scanning system and excitation source is required to collect high quality data and minimize sample damage in SAIM acquisitions. Drawing inspiration from open-source prototyping systems, like the Arduino microcontroller boards, we developed a new instrument control platform to be affordable, easily programmed, and broadly useful, but with integrated, precision analog circuitry and optimized firmware routines tailored to advanced microscopy. We show how the integration of waveform generation, multiplexed analog outputs, and native hardware triggers into a single central hub provides a versatile platform for performing fast circle-scanning acquisitions, including azimuthal scanning SAIM and multiangle TIRF. We also demonstrate how the low communication latency of our hardware platform can reduce image intensity and reconstruction artifacts arising from synchronization errors produced by software control. Our complete platform, including hardware design, firmware, API, and software, is available online for community-based development and collaboration.
Source: Scientific Reports
Institution: Cornell University
Language: English
Subfield: Biophysics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,790
Awards: G1413200805, G260868270, Fast interference-based super-resolution microscope for cancer mechanobiology, Center on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism, G3351423421, G4207085027, G4603420167, G5940402124, CAREER: Physical Regulation of Cell Migration by the Glycocalyx, NNCI: Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), G7003893473, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G7881980112, G8229174675, Training in Molecular Physics of Biological Systems, G8397856929, G985764062
OpenAlex ID: W2969378271