Lensfree time-gated photoluminescent imaging

Fluorescence and, more generally, photoluminescence enable high contrast imaging of targeted regions of interest through the use of photoluminescent probes with high specificity for different targets. Fluorescence can be used for rare cell imaging; however, this often requires a high space-bandwidth product: simultaneous high resolution and large field of view. With bulky traditional microscopes, high space-bandwidth product images require time-consuming mechanical scanning and stitching. Lensfree imaging can compactly and cost-effectively achieve a high space-bandwidth product in a single image through computational reconstruction of images from diffraction patterns recorded over the full field of view of standard image sensors. Many methods of lensfree photoluminescent imaging exist, where the excitation light is filtered before the image sensor, often by placing spectral filters between the sample and sensor. However, the sample-to-sensor distance is one of the limiting factors on resolution in lensfree systems and so more competitive performance can be obtained if this distance is reduced. Here, we show a time-gated lensfree photoluminescent imaging system that can achieve a resolution of 8.77 μm. We use europium chelate fluorophores because of their long lifetime (642 μs) and trigger camera exposure ∼50 μs after excitation. Because the excitation light is filtered temporally, there is no need for physical filters, enabling reduced sample-to-sensor distances and higher resolutions.