Needle-shaped beams (NBs) featuring a long depth-of-focus (DOF) can drastically improve the resolution of microscopy systems. However, thus far, the implementation of a specific NB has been onerous due to the lack of a common, flexible generation method. Here we develop a spatially multiplexed phase pattern that creates many axially closely spaced foci as a universal platform for customizing various NBs, allowing flexible manipulations of beam length and diameter, uniform axial intensity, and sub-diffraction-limit beams. NBs designed via this method successfully extended the DOF of our optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. It revealed clear individual epidermal cells of the entire human epidermis, fine structures of human dermal-epidermal junction in a large depth range, and a high-resolution dynamic heartbeat of alive Drosophila larvae.

中文翻译：

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灵活的针状光束产生方法及其在光学相干层析成像中的应用

具有长焦深 (DOF) 的针状光束 (NB) 可以显着提高显微镜系统的分辨率。然而，到目前为止，由于缺乏通用、灵活的生成方法，特定 NB 的实现一直很繁重。在这里，我们开发了一种空间复用相位模式，它创建了许多轴向紧密间隔的焦点作为定制各种 NB 的通用平台，允许灵活地操纵光束长度和直径、均匀的轴向强度和亚衍射极限光束。通过这种方法设计的 NB 成功地扩展了我们的光学相干断层扫描 (OCT) 系统的景深。它清晰地显示了整个人体表皮的单个表皮细胞，大深度范围内的人体真皮-表皮连接处的精细结构，以及活体的高分辨率动态心跳果蝇幼虫。