Generation of biaxially accelerating static Airy light-sheets with 3D-printed freeform micro-optics

Abstract: One-dimensional Airy beams allow the generation of thin light-sheets without scanning, simplifying the complex optical arrangements of light-sheet microscopes (LSM) with an extended field-of-view (FOV). However, their uniaxial acceleration limits the maximum numerical aperture of the detection objective in order to keep both the active and inactive axes within the depth-of-field. This problem is particularly pronounced in miniaturized LSM implementations, such as those for endomicroscopy or multi-photon neural imaging in freely-moving animals using head-mounted miniscopes. We propose a new method to generate a static Airy light-sheet with biaxial acceleration, based on a novel phase profile. This light-sheet has the geometry of a spherical shell whose radius of curvature can be designed to match the field curvature of the micro-objective. We present an analytical model for the analysis of the light-sheet parameters and verify it by numerical simulations in the paraxial regime. We also discuss a micro-optical experimental implementation combining gradient-index optics with a 3D-nano-printed, fully refractive phase plate. The results confirm that we are able to match detection curvatures with radii in the 1.5 to 2 mm range.