Structured Light in Medicine and Biology (DFG Research Training Network InnoRetVision, EU Project PIX4life, Seed-fund “Enhanced field-of-view high-resolution lattice light-sheet microscopy with phased array beam formers”): Phased arrays enable the emission of light with a tailored phase and intensity profile, enabling in principle arbitrary beam forming (within the limits of technological constraints such as the size of the emitters constraining the granularity of the generated field profile). They are being applied to a range of applications such as LiDAR or augmented reality goggles. By using silicon nitride based waveguide technology, wavelengths ranging from near UV to the mid-infrared can be covered. We are applying this technology to several fields in biology and medicine, namely artificial vision and structured illumination in light-sheet microscopy. In the training network InnoRetVision, we are aiming at developing new techniques to address macular degeneration with artificial implants. One of the difficulties is to send power and information to the implant. We are aiming to solve this with phased array emitters, with which we can send pre-processed visual information with targeted power levels onto the implant. In a different application field, we explore the use of structured illumination and non-diffracting beams as generated by phased arrays in light sheet microscopy, in which we aim to obtain subcellular resolution together with millimeter scale fields-of-views in improved microscopy setups.

Project Partners: Faculties of Medicine and of Natural Sciences (Biology Department) of RWTH Aachen, Forschungszentrum Jülich, University of Duisburg-Essen

Detailed information on Structured Light in Medicine and Biology can be found on the Projectwebsite