Three-dimensional skin imaging using the combination of reflected confocal and multiphoton microscopy
Reflected confocal microscopy has been widely used in clinical application in dermatology. In recent years, ::: multiphoton microscopy has also emerged as an important minimally invasive bioimaging technique for the skin. In this ::: study, we combine reflected confocal microscopy and multiphoton microscopy for skin imaging. In the epidermis, ::: reflected confocal signals are expected to help in delineating cell borders while multiphoton signals provide cytoplasmic ::: morphologies. In the dermis, second harmonic generation signals provide the morphology of collagen fibers. When ::: three-dimensional images are projected, the detailed distribution of cellular component and extracellular matrix in skin ::: can be obtained. Properly developed, this technique is of great potential for in vivo clinical application.
Conventional microwave transversal filters are hindered by bandwidth limitations and cannot provide long-time delays due to excessive propagation losses. Optical transversal filters lack the means to provide negative weighting coefficients. Therefore, a hybrid transversal filter that utilizes low loss, wide bandwidth optical fibers for the delays and microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMIC's) for accurate weighting is investigated. Theoretical analysis of the noise performance, bandwidth, and delay fine dispersion of a completed MMIC advanced transversal filter and the novel hybrid transversal filter are presented. >