Metal parts with highly dynamic areas often appear in industrial production measurements. However, if the traditional fringe projection technique is used to project fringe onto the surface of these metal parts, the light energy will be excessively concentrated and the image will be saturated, resulting thus in the loss of fringe information. To effectively address the high reflectivity problem of the object under test in fringe projection, background normalized Fourier transform contouring was combined with adaptive fringe projection in this work and a new method for performing highly dynamic 3D measurements was proposed. To reduce the number of the acquired images by the camera, a monochromatic fringe of different frequencies was put into the RGB channel to make color composite fringe, and then a color camera was used to acquire the deformed color composite fringe map. The images acquired by the color camera were then separated into three channels to obtain three deformed stripe maps. The crosstalk was also removed from these three images, and the 3D shape of the object was reconstructed by carrying out Fourier transform contouring with background normalization. From our experiments, it was demonstrated that the root mean square error of the proposed method can reach 0.191 mm, whereas, unlike the traditional methods, the developed method requires four images.

Fiber scanners are portable and miniaturized laser scanning devices used for a wide range of applications, such as endoscopic probes for biomedical imaging. However, in order to achieve different resonant frequencies for 2D actuation, existing fiber scanners have complex actuation mechanisms and structures, resulting in being an obstacle for endoscopic imaging. By exploiting the intrinsic difference in bending stiffness of non-symmetrical fibers, we present the most simplified fiber scanner to date, containing only a single piezoelectric bimorph and a single non-symmetrical fiber with a 1D actuator for 2D laser scanning. 5-fps (frames per second) Lissajous scan is achieved with a scanning range of >300μm and a driving voltage of ≤10Vpp. The ultra simplified structure of the fiber scanner enables a miniaturized optical probe with a diameter of 1.9 mm, and image quality comparable to that of commercial microscopes. Taking advantage of its ease of manufacture and low cost, the fiber scanner offers a transformative way forward for disposable endoscopic probes that avoid the risk of cross infection during endoscopic inspections.

Manipulating and real-time monitoring of neuronal activities with cell-type specificity and precise spatiotemporal resolution during animal behavior are fundamental technologies for exploring the functional connectivity, information transmission, and physiological functions of neural circuits in vivo. However, current techniques for optogenetic stimulation and neuronal activity recording mostly operate independently. Here, we report an all-fiber-transmission photometry system for simultaneous optogenetic manipulation and multi-color recording of neuronal activities and the neurotransmitter release in a freely moving animal. We have designed and manufactured a wavelength-independent multi-branch fiber bundle to enable simultaneous optogenetic manipulation and multi-color recording at different wavelengths. Further, we combine a laser of narrow linewidth with the lock-in amplification method to suppress the optogenetic stimulation-induced artifacts and channel crosstalk. We show that the collection efficiency of our system outperforms a traditional epi-fluorescence system. Further, we demonstrate successful recording of dynamic dopamine (DA) responses to unexpected rewards in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in a freely moving mouse. We also show simultaneous dual-color recording of neuronal Ca²⁺ signals and DA dynamics in the NAc upon delivering an unexpected reward and the simultaneous optogenetic activating at dopaminergic terminals in the same location. Thus, our multi-function fiber photometry system provides a compatible, efficient, and flexible solution for neuroscientists to study neural circuits and neurological diseases.Manipulating and real-time monitoring of neuronal activities with cell-type specificity and precise spatiotemporal resolution during animal behavior are fundamental technologies for exploring the functional connectivity, information transmission, and physiological functions of neural circuits in vivo. However, current techniques for optogenetic stimulation and neuronal activity recording mostly operate independently. Here, we report an all-fiber-transmission photometry system for simultaneous optogenetic manipulation and multi-color recording of neuronal activities and the neurotransmitter release in a freely moving animal. We have designed and manufactured a wavelength-independent multi-branch fiber bundle to enable simultaneous optogenetic manipulation and multi-color recording at different wavelengths. Further, we combine a laser of narrow linewidth with the lock-in amplification method to suppress the optogenetic stimulation-induced artifacts and channel crosstalk. We show that the collection efficiency of our system outperforms a traditional epi-fluorescence system. Further, we demonstrate successful recording of dynamic dopamine (DA) responses to unexpected rewards in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in a freely moving mouse. We also show simultaneous dual-color recording of neuronal Ca²⁺ signals and DA dynamics in the NAc upon delivering an unexpected reward and the simultaneous optogenetic activating at dopaminergic terminals in the same location. Thus, our multi-function fiber photometry system provides a compatible, efficient, and flexible solution for neuroscientists to study neural circuits and neurological diseases.

Rapid large-area tissue imaging at the cellular resolution is important for clinical diagnosis. We present a probe-based confocal microendoscope (pCM) with a field-of-view (FOV) diameter over 500 μm, lateral resolution of 1.95 μm, and outer diameter of 2.6 mm, compatible with the biopsy channel of conventional gastroscopes. Compared to a conventional pCM, our system’s FOV increased by a factor of 4 while maintaining the probe size and cellular resolution—comparable to the FOV of Zeiss Axio Observer’s 20×/0.8 numerical aperture objective lens. Ex vivo imaging of wide areas in healthy and diseased rat gastrointestinal tract tissues demonstrates the system’s practicality.

To visualize the structure and organization of the brain is a fundamental requirement in the research of neuroscience. Here, combining with two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy and transgenetic mouse GAD67, we demonstrate a custom-built second harmonic generation (SHG) microscope to discriminate brain layers and sub regions in the cerebellum and brain stem slices with cellular resolution. In particular, the cell densities of neurons in different brain layers are extracted due to the cell soma appearing as dark shadow on an SHG image. Further, the axon initial segments of the Purkinje cell are easily recognized without labeling, which would be useful for guiding micropipettes for electrophysiology.