We present a novel confocal laser method (CLM) for precise testing of the dioptric power of both positive and negative intraocular lens (IOL) implants. The CLM principle is based on a simple fiber-optic confocal laser design including a single-mode fiber coupler that serves simultaneously as a point light source used for formation of a collimated Gaussian laser beam, and as a highly sensitive confocal point receiver. The CLM approach provides an accurate, repeatable, objective, and fast method for IOL dioptric power measurement over the range from 0 D to greater than +-30 D under both dry and in-situ simulated conditions.

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) have highly efficient multi-photon-induced luminescence. In this paper, we record the two-photon images of gold NPs, lymphoma cell line Karpas 299, and Karpas 299 incubated with 30-nm-diameter gold NPs and ACT-1 antibody conjugates (Au30-ACT-1 conjugates) by using a multi-photon microscopy system. Due to the specific conjugation of ACT-1 antibody and cell membrane receptor CD25, gold NPs are only bound to the surface of cell membrane of Karpas 299. The luminescence intensity of gold NPs is higher than that of cells at 750-nm laser excitation. By comparing the images of Karpas 299 cells incubated with and without gold NPs, it is found that by means of gold NPs, we can get clear cell images with lower excitation power. Their excellent optical and chemical properties make gold NPs an attractive contrast agent for cellular imaging.

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is a recently developed nonlinear optical imaging modality for imaging tissue structures with submicron resolution and is a potent tool for visualizing pathological effects of diseases. In this letter, we present our investigation on the influence of van Gieson's (VG) alcoholic picrofuchsin staining on SHG in type I collagen (from tendon-rich C57BL/6). Multi-channel imaging and spectra analysis show that the strong SHG signal produced in fresh collagen type I fiber has been greatly suppressed after VG staining, which indicates that staining may induce the structural or characteristic changes of SHG-dependent crystal formed by collagen constituents, such as glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline.

The sensitivity of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) imaging exponentially decreases with the increase of photon penetration depth, which leads to a poor depth resolution for DOT. In this letter, an exponential adjustment method (EAM) based on maximum singular value of layered sensitivity is proposed. Optimal depth resolution can be achieved by compensating the reduced sensitivity in the deep medium. Simulations are performed using a semi-infinite model and the simulation results show that the EAM method can substantially improve the depth resolution of deeply embedded objects in the medium. Consequently, the image quality and the reconstruction accuracy for these objects have been largely improved.

We present a full three-dimensional, featured-data algorithm for time-domain fluorescence diffuse optical tomography that inverts the Laplace-transformed time-domain coupled diffusion equations and employs a pair of appropriate transform-factors to effectively separate the fluorescent yield and lifetime parameters. By use of a time-correlation single-photon counting system and the normalized Born formulation, we experimentally validate that the proposed scheme can achieve simultaneous reconstruction of the fluorescent yield and lifetime distributions with a reasonable accuracy.

Digital radiography (DR) and whole-body fluorescent optical imaging (WFOI) have been widely applied in the field of molecular imaging, with the advantages in tissues and functional imaging. The integration of them contributes to the development and discovery of medicine. We introduce an equipment, performance of which is better than that of another molecular imaging system manufactured by Kodak Corp. It can take real-time small animal imaging in vivo, with lower cost and shorter development cycle on the LabVIEW platform. At last, a paradigm experiment on a nude mouse with green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic tumor is given to present a real-time DR-WFOI fusion simultaneous image.

The feasibility of measuring crater geometries by use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) is examined. Bovine shank bone on a motorized translation stage with a motion velocity of 3 mm/s is ablated with a pulsed CO2 laser in vitro. The laser pulse repetition rate is 60 Hz and the spot size on the tissue surface is 0.5 mm. Crater geometries are evaluated immediately by both OCT and histology methods after laser irradiation. The results reveal that OCT is capable of measuring crater geometries rapidly and noninvasively as compared to histology. There are good correlation and agreement between crater depth estimates obtained by two techniques, whereas there exists distinct difference between crater width estimates when the carbonization at the sides of craters is not removed.

We experimentally and theoretically investigated the performance of a fiber-optic based Fourier-domain common-path optical coherence tomography (OCT). The fiber-optic common-path OCT operated at the 840-nm center wavelength. The resolution of the system was 8.8 \mum (in air) and the working depth using a bare fiber probe was approximately 1.5 mm. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system was analyzed. OCT images obtained by the system were also presented.

A novel spectral calibration method is developed for spectral domain optical coherence tomography system. The method is based on two measurements of interference spectra from two reference mirror positions. It removes the influence of dispersion mismatch, and hence accurately determines the spectral distribution on the line-scan charge-coupled device (CCD) for sequent precise interpolation. High quality imaging can be realized with this method. Elimination of the degradation effect caused by dispersion mismatch is verified experimentally, and improved two-dimensional (2D) imaging of fresh orange pulp based on the proposed spectral calibration method is demonstrated.

Spectral domain polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (SDPS-OCT) is a depth-resolved polarization-sensitive interferometry which integrates polarization optics into spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). This configuration can obtain birefringence information of samples and improve the imaging speed. In this paper, horizontally polarized light is used to replace natural light of the source. Then, right-rotated circularly polarized light is the incident sample light. To obtain two orthogonal components of the polarized interferogram, the reflected light of the reference arm is set to be 45O linearly polarized light. These two components are acquired by two spectrometers synchronously. The system was employed to achieve 12.8-\mum axial resolution and 4.36-\mum transverse resolution. We have imaged in vitro chicken tendon and muscle tissues with these system.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate that tensile stress resulting due to applied force on cornea can be accurately measured by using a time-domain common-path optical coherence tomography (OCT) system with an external contact reference. The unique design of the common-path OCT is utilized to set up an imaging system in which a chicken eye is placed adjacent to a glass plate serving as the external reference plane for the imaging system. As the force is applied to the chicken eye, it presses against the reference glass plate. The modified OCT image obtained is used to calculate the size of contact area, which is then used to derive the tensile stress on the cornea. The drop in signal levels upon contact of reference glass plate with the tissue are extremely sharp because of the sharp decline in reference power levels itself, thus providing us with an accurate measurement of contact area. The experimental results were in good agreement with the numerical predictions. The results of this study might be useful in providing new insights and ideas to improve the precision and safety of currently used ophthalmic surgical techniques. This research outlines a method which could be used to provide high resolution OCT images and a precise feedback of the forces applied to the cornea simultaneously.

The emergent light distribution of a new type of contact laser scalpel is measured in three different states using a light sensor. The relationship between the angle and the light intensity is analyzed. The results show that the strongest light is emitted from two sides and the front of the scalpel. The light from the front mainly plays a role of cutting. The light from two sides contributes to stanch the wound so as to remain a clear visual field during the surgery. It also helps to increase the cutting efficiency.

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing system based on the optical cavity enhanced detection technique is experimentally demonstrated. A fiber-optic laser cavity is built with a SPR sensor inside. By measuring the laser output power when the cavity is biased near the threshold point, the sensitivity, defined as the dependence of the output optical intensity on the sample variations, can be increased by about one order of magnitude compared to that of the SPR sensor alone under the intensity interrogation scheme. This could facilitate ultra-high sensitivity SPR biosensing applications. Further system miniaturization is possible by using integrated optical components and waveguide SPR sensors.

Different types of femtosecond optical tweezers have become a powerful tool in the modern biological field. However, how to control the irregular targets, including biological cells, using femtosecond optical tweezers remains to be explored. In this study, human red blood cells (hRBCs) are manipulated with femtosecond optical tweezers, and their states under different laser powers are investigated. The results indicate that optical potential traps only can capture the edge of hRBCs under the laser power from 1.4 to 2.8 mW, while it can make hRBCs turn over with the laser power more than 2.8 mW. It is suggested that femtosecond optical tweezers could not only manipulate biological cells, but also subtly control its states by adjusting the laser power.

A novel structure of fiber optic biosensor and its principle are introduced. The sample is detected in microchannels of several microns diameter in fiber optic biosensors. The relation between the optic fiber tapered angle and the fluorescence incident angle is calculated in signal receiving part. As the sensor is a zero-order system, calculating formula of the static sensitivity is derived. When ZnSe nano-crystalline cluster is used for marking the molecules, the static sensitivity for fiber optic biosensors is calculated. At the same time, the relation between the static sensitivity and the ratio of exciting wavelength to fluorescence wavelength is presented.

The ultra-compact biosensor based on the two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PhC) microcavity is investigated. The performances of the sensor are analyzed theoretically using the Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity model and simulated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The simulation results go along with the theoretical analysis.

To confirm the existence and properties of human meridians, the optical transport properties along the pericardium meridian and tissues around the pericardium meridian are studied noninvasively on twenty healthy volunteers in vivo and then compared with each other. Our study shows that the light propagating along the meridian and non-meridian directions both conform to the Beer's exponential attenuation law. However, statistical analysis of the results suggests that the optical transport properties of human meridian differ from those of the surrounding tissues over a low modulated frequency range (P<0.01), and light attenuation along the pericardium meridian is significantly less than that along the non-meridian direction. These findings not only indicate the existence of acupuncture meridian from the point of view of biomedical optics, but also shed new light on an approach to investigation of human meridians.

A spatial distribution of diffuse reflectance produced by obliquely incident light is not centered about the point of light entry. The value of shift in the center of diffuse reflectance is directly related to the absorption coefficient \mu_{a} and the effective attenuation coefficient \mu_{eff}. \mu_{a} and the reduced scattering coefficient \mu^{'}_{s} of human skin tissues in vivo are measured by oblique-incidence reflectometry based on the two-source diffuse theory model. For ten Chinese volunteers aged 15-63 years, \mu_{a} and \mu^{'}_{s} are noninvasively determined to be 0.029-0.075 and 0.52-0.97 mm^{-1}, respectively.

Reconstruction of absorption coefficient \mu_{a} and scattering coefficient \mu_{s} is very important for applications of diffuse optical tomography and near infrared spectroscopy. Aiming at the early cancer detection of cervix and stomach, we present a fast inverse Monte-Carlo scheme for extracting \mu_{a} and \mu_{s} of a tubular tissue from the measurement on frequency domain. Results show that the computation time for reconstructing one set of \mu_{a} and \mu_{s} is less than 1 min and the relative errors in reconstruction are less than +-10% for the optical properties of normal cervical tissue and precancerous lesions.

The Raman spectra from leukemic cell line (HL60) and normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are obtained by confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy using near-infrared laser (785 nm) excitation. The scanning range is from 500 to 2000 cm^{-1}. The two average Raman spectra of normal PBMCs and carcinoma cells have clear differences because their structure and amount of nucleic acid, protein, and other major molecules are changed. The spectra are also compared and analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) to demonstrate the two distinct clusters of normal and transformed cells. The sensitivity of this technique for identifying transformed cells is 100%.

A feasible method of combining the concept of fluorescence half-life and the power dependent photobleaching rate for characterizing the practical photostability of fluorescent proteins (FPs) was introduced. Furthermore, by using a fluorescent photostability standard, a relative comparison of the photostabilty of FPs from different research groups was proposed, which would be of great benefit for developing novel FPs with optimized emission wavelength, better brightness, and improved photostability. We used rhodamine B as an example to verify this method and evaluate the practical photostability of a far-red FP, mKate-S158C. Experimental results indicated good potential of this method for further study.

To investigate the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with hematoporphrin monomethyl ether (HMME) on bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) can provide the basis theory for photoinactivation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). To assess the protection of HMME-PDT on the cell line Cf2Th infected with BIVR29 by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazol-2-y1-3,5-di-phenytetrazolium bromide (MTT) with power density of 5 and 25 mW/cm2 and energy density from 0.6 to 3 J/cm2. To observe the inhibition of membrane fusion using a new reporter cell line BIVE by fluorescence microscope. HMME-PDT has significant protectant effects on Cf2Th-BIVR29 with both power densities, especially in the group of high power density. Fluorescent microscope shows that there is no significant difference between the group of PDT and control, which means PDT could not inhibit the BIV-mediated membrane fusion.

We investigated the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME) on the viability of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) cells on biofilms in vitro. Streptococcus mutans is the primary etiological agent of human dental caries. Since dental caries are localized infections, such plaque-related diseases would be well suited to PDT. The diode laser used in this study had the wavelength of 635 nm, whose output power was 10 mW and the energy density was 12.74 J/cm2. HMME was used as photosensitizer. Samples were prepared and divided into five groups: (1) HMME; (2) Laser; (3) HMME+Laser; (4) Control group (+) with chlorhexidine; and (5) Control group (-) with sterile physiological saline. Inoculum of S. mutans incubated with HMME also examined with fluorescence microscopy. PDT exhibited a significantly (P<0.05) increased antimicrobial potential compared with 20 \mum/mL HMME only, laser only, 0.05% chlorhexidine, and 0.9% sterile physiological saline, which reduced the S. mutans of the biofilm most effectively. Laser and 0.05% chlorhexidine were caused reduction in the viable counts of S. mutans significantly different (P<0.05) also, but these two test treatments did not statistically differ from each other. HMME group did not statistically differ with negative control group. Fluorescence microscopy indicated that HMME localized primarily in the S. mutans of the biofilm. It was demonstrated that HMME-mediated PDT was efficient at killing S. mutans of biofilms and a useful approach in the treatment of dental plaque-related diseases.

In landmark-based image registration, estimating the landmark correspondence plays an important role. In this letter, a novel landmark correspondence estimation technique using mean shift algorithm is proposed. Image corner points are detected as landmarks and mean shift iterations are adopted to find the most probable corresponding point positions in two images. Mutual information between intensity of two local regions is computed to eliminate mis-matching points. Multi-level estimation (MLE) technique is proposed to improve the stability of corresponding estimation. Experiments show that the precision in location of correspondence landmarks is exact. The proposed technique is shown to be feasible and rapid in the experiments of various mono-modal medical images.