High-speed optical systems are revolutionizing biomedical imaging in microscopy, DNA sequencing, and flow cytometry, as well as numerous other applications, including data storage, display technologies, printing, and autonomous vehicles. These systems often achieve the necessary imaging or sensing speed through the use of resonant galvanometric optical scanners. Here, we show that the optical performance of these devices suffers due to the dynamic mirror distortion that arises from the variation in torque with angular displacement. In one of two scanners tested, these distortions result in a variation of signal-to-noise (Strehl) ratio by an order of magnitude across the field of view, degrading transverse resolution by more than a factor of 2. This mirror distortion could be mitigated through the use of stiffer materials, such as beryllium or silicon carbide, at the expense of surface roughness, as these cannot be polished to the same degree of smoothness as common optical glasses. The repeatability of the dynamic distortion indicates that computational and optical corrective methods are also possible.

中文翻译：

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谐振电流计光学扫描仪中的动态失真

高速光学系统正在彻底改变显微镜、DNA 测序和流式细胞术中的生物医学成像，以及许多其他应用，包括数据存储、显示技术、打印和自动驾驶汽车。这些系统通常通过使用谐振电流计光学扫描仪来实现必要的成像或传感速度。在这里，我们表明这些设备的光学性能由于扭矩随角位移的变化而引起的动态镜面畸变而受到影响。在测试的两台扫描仪之一中，这些失真导致信噪比 (Strehl) 比在整个视场内发生一个数量级的变化，从而使横向分辨率降低 2 倍以上。这种镜面失真可能是通过使用更硬的材料来减轻，例如铍或碳化硅，以牺牲表面粗糙度为代价，因为它们无法抛光到与普通光学玻璃相同的光滑度。动态失真的可重复性表明计算和光学校正方法也是可能的。