Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC

University of California

City College of New York

Other

City University of New York

Research Foundation of Cuny

Biosense Webster, Inc.

Stavros G Demos

Robert R Alfano

Alexander M Rubenchik

Gang Zhang

Wubao Wang

Richard M Levenson

Raluca A Negres

Michael C Staggs

Shiva Sharareh

Michael D Feit

Miroslav Y Shverdin

Jamal H Ali

Michael Shirk

Andromachi Michalopoulou

Christopher W Carr

Rajesh Raman

Ralph W deVere White

Shiro Urayama

Bevin Lin

Ramez Moussa Ghobrial Saroufeem

Jason Fitzgerald

Christoph Troppmann

Shiva G Sharareh

The present disclosure relates to a method for visualizing a sub-dermal structure. The method involves illuminating an imaged area of interest (AOI) including sub-dermal regions thereof with near-infrared (NIR) light. The NIR light is passed through a first optical system for controlling at least one of spectral and polarization properties thereof prior to illuminating the imaged AOI. One or more desired optical components of an optical signal reflected back from the imaged area of interest is detected, which represent specific portions of the sub-dermal regions where specific anatomical structure of interest is present. The desired optical components represent a vein visualization signal representing only a portion of the reflected optical signal that falls within a sub-range of intensities, relative to intensities of a remainder of the reflected optical signal. The sub-range of intensities assist in visualizing a vascular structure below a skin layer of a patient. The vein visualization signal may be used to generate a display of the vascular structure on a display system.

Imaging system and method for enhanced visualization of near surface vascular structures

Laser additive manufacturing apparatus, systems, and methods for the fabrication of high quality freeform high value structures. The apparatus, systems, and methods utilize a material powder having varying particle size and shape as raw material. It can also be adopted to use a wire as the feed material.

Laser-assisted additive manufacturing

A sub-dermal structure visualization system and method is disclosed. The system may use an illumination module including: a near-infrared (NIR) light source adapted to substantially uniformly illuminate an imaged area including sub-dermal regions thereof with NIR light; and a first optical system including at least one optical element for controlling at least one of spectral and polarization properties of the NIR light prior to illuminating the imaged area. An imaging module rejects unwanted signals from an imaged area while passing desired optical signals that are to be received by an image acquisition module. The desired optical signals can comprise a vein visualization signal to assist in visualizing a vascular structure below a skin layer of a patient.

A hand holdable, portable apparatus for imaging a portion of an anatomy of a person, without physical contact with the anatomy. The apparatus has a housing, a touchscreen display mounted in the housing, and a plurality of illumination modules disposed on the housing and configured to provide illumination beams at different wavelengths and having different polarizations. A camera is supported on the housing and forms an imaging subsystem for capturing a plurality of acquired images produced by illumination from the illumination modules. A processing subsystem analyzes the acquired images and generates a new image which has enhanced contrast of features associated with at least one of a surface biometric trait of the portion of the anatomy, and/or a subsurface biometric trait of the portion of the anatomy. This image(s) can be used for verification of the person's identity by software incorporated in the portable apparatus or by transmitting information generated by the images to a remote data base.

Personal electronic device for performing multimodal imaging for non-contact identification of multiple biometric traits

A system and method is disclosed for non-contact detection and/or imaging and/or monitoring target subsurface tissue of at least one of human or animal anatomy. The system applies a first optical excitation signal to an outer tissue surface at a first location on the anatomy, which excites the target subsurface tissue to produce acoustic signals which are transmitted to an outer tissue surface of the anatomy. A gel-like, impedance matching and signal converting (IMASC) material layer is applied to the outer tissue surface at a second location on the anatomy. The IMASC material layer contains material elements which are able to influence characteristics of an optical signal impinging and reflected from the IMASC material, in accordance with acoustic signals that have been reflected from the target subsurface tissue, and which propagate into the IMASC material. An optical ultrasound detection system is used to process the reflected optical signals reflected from the IMASC material to provide information that may be used to provide an image of the target subsurface tissue.

System and method for synthesis of impedance matching and signal converting material for all optical photo-acoustic detection

A method is described to enhance the ability to evaluate the depth of a tissue component or a lesion having optical properties different from a surrounding tissue using time resolved optical methods. This invention may be particularly suitable for the evaluation of lesion depth during RF ablation (irreversible tissue modification/damage) using specially designed devises (catheters) that deliver heat in a localized region for therapeutic reasons. The technique allows for increased ability to evaluate the depth of the ablated lesion or detect the presence of other processes such as micro-bubble formation and coagulation with higher sensitivity compared to that offered by steady state spectroscopy. The method can be used for in-vivo, real-time monitoring during tissue ablation or other procedures where information on the depth of a lesion or tissue is needed. Exemplary uses are found in tissue ablation, tissue thermal damage, lesion and tissue depth assessment in medical applications.

Assessment of tissue or lesion depth using temporally resolved light scattering spectroscopy

A system for detecting pressure, acoustic or ultrasound waves within an entity having a surface including the steps of attaching a signal converting material to the surface. The waves are generated by direct ejection from the surface, generation via energy deposition on the surface, generated spontaneously or, generated by directing light energy to the light absorbing target. The absorbing target subsequently generates acoustic pressure waves. The acoustic waves propagate to the surface of the entity and the signal converting material, wherein the acoustic pressure waves create vibrations in the signal converting material; and detecting the waves in the signal converting material with an optical detection system. Information about the absorbing target is obtained by the absorbing target reflecting the waves. The signal converting material can be a gel-like material containing optical elements, a multi-layer patch, or other material.

Non-contact optical system for detecting ultrasound waves from a surface

A system in one embodiment includes an image forming device for forming an image from an area of interest containing different image components; an illumination device for illuminating the area of interest with light containing multiple components; at least one light source coupled to the illumination device, the at least one light source providing light to the illumination device containing different components, each component having distinct spectral characteristics and relative intensity; an image analyzer coupled to the image forming device, the image analyzer decomposing the image formed by the image forming device into multiple component parts based on type of imaging; and multiple image capture devices, each image capture device receiving one of the component parts of the image. Additional systems and methods are presented.

Simultaneous acquisition of differing image types

A method is disclosed for analyzing a thin tissue sample and adapted to be supported on a slide. The tissue sample may be placed on a slide and exposed to one or more different exogenous fluorophores excitable in a range of about 300 nm-200 nm, and having a useful emission band from about 350 nm-900 nm, and including one or more fluorescent dyes or fluorescently labeled molecular probes that accumulate in tissue or cellular components. The fluorophores may be excited with a first wavelength of UV light between about 200 nm-290 nm. An optical system collects emissions from the fluorophores at a second wavelength, different from the first wavelength, which are generated in response to the first wavelength of UV light, to produce an image for analysis.

System and method for controlling depth of imaging in tissues using fluorescence microscopy under ultraviolet excitation following staining with fluorescing agents

Systems and methods are disclosed for obtaining at least a pair of biometric traits of a person and without contact with the person. In one embodiment a system is disclosed which makes use of a plurality of illumination modules and an imaging module, where a single image is acquired with a color encoded imaging sensor. Parallel and orthogonally polarized images are obtained by at least one sensor of the imaging module from illuminations produced by the illumination modules. A processing subsystem uses mathematical applied operations between the acquired images to selectively produce at least one image of at least one specific biometric trait, such as a finger print, a palm print, a finger-vein, a palm vein, or hand geometry. The biometric trait can be subsequently used for biometric verification and identification.

Multimodal imaging system and method for non-contact identification of multiple biometric traits

The present disclosure relates to a method for analyzing tissue specimens. In one implementation the method involves obtaining a tissue sample and exposing the sample to one or more fluorophores as contrast agents to enhance contrast of subcellular compartments of the tissue sample. The tissue sample is illuminated by an ultraviolet (UV) light having a wavelength between about 200 nm to about 400 nm, with the wavelength being selected to result in penetration to only a specified depth below a surface of the tissue sample. Inter-image operations between images acquired under different imaging parameters allow for improvement of the image quality via removal of unwanted image components. A microscope may be used to image the tissue sample and provide the image to an image acquisition system that makes use of a camera. The image acquisition system may create a corresponding image that is transmitted to a display system for processing and display.

A method of determining conditioning pulse parameters for an optical element includes directing a pump pulse to impinge on the optical element and directing a probe pulse to impinge on the optical element. The method also includes determining a first time associated with an onset of electronic excitation leading to formation of an absorbing region of the optical element and determining a second time associated with expansion of the absorbing region of the optical element. The method further includes defining a turn-off time for a conditioning pulse between the first time and the second time. According to embodiments of the present invention, pulse shaping of the conditioning pulse enables laser conditioning of optical elements to achieve improvements in their laser induced damage threshold.

Method and system for processing optical materials for high power laser systems

Techniques are provided for enhancing the visibility of objects located below the surface of a scattering medium such as tissue, water and smoke. Examples of such an object include a vein located below the skin, a mine located below the surface of the sea and a human in a location covered by smoke. The enhancement of the image contrast of a subsurface structure is based on the utilization of structured illumination. In the specific application of this invention to image the veins in the arm or other part of the body, the issue of how to control the intensity of the image of a metal object (such as a needle) that must be inserted into the vein is also addressed.

Enhancement of the visibility of objects located below the surface of a scattering medium

A method of repairing damage in an optical element includes providing a laser system including at least one optical element having a coating layer having an incident light surface and directing a laser pulse from the laser system to impinge on the incident light surface. The method also includes sustaining damage to a portion of the incident light surface and melting the damaged portion of the incident light surface and a region adjacent to the damaged portion. The method further includes flowing material from the region adjacent the damaged portion to the damaged portion and solidifying the material in the damaged portion and the region adjacent to the damaged portion.

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Astoria, NY, United States of America

Stavros G Demos