Deep-tissue large field of view imaging by Fourier conjugate adaptive optics

Abstract: Light microscopy enables multifunctional imaging of biological specimens at unprecedented depths and resolutions. However, the performance of all optical methods degrades with the imaging depth due to sample-induced aberrations. Methods of adaptive optics (AO) are aimed at pre-compensation of these distortions but state-of-the-art adaptive optics still provides a limited field of view and imaging depth. Here I propose a new approach to overcome these limitations: Fourier image plane conjugate AO. Two possible experimental designs of the new approach are investigated and an accurate comparison between proposed and previously used methods of AO is presented. We see that Fourier conjugate AO provides a significantly larger field of view, which can only be limited by the angular optical memory effect, as well as it is simpler in practical realization for large imaging depth and allows the optimal use of resolution of spatial light modulator.