Image-based autofocusing system for nonlinear optical microscopy with broad spectral tuning

Image-based autofocusing system for nonlinear optical microscopy with broad spectral tuning

Grégoire Saerens, Lukas Lang, Claude Renaut, Flavia Timpu, Viola Vogler-Neuling, Christophe Durand, Maria Tchernycheva, Igor Shtrom, Alexey Bouravleuv, Rachel Grange, and Maria Timofeeva

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.019915

We present an image-based autofocusing system applied in nonlinear microscopy and spectroscopy with a wide range of excitation wavelengths. The core of the developed autofocusing system consists of an adapted two-step procedure maximizing an image score with six different image scorings algorithms implemented to cover different types of focusing scenarios in automated regime for broad wavelength region. The developed approach is combined with an automated multi-axis alignment procedure. We demonstrate the key abilities of the autofocusing procedure on different types of structures: single nanoparticles, nanowires and complex 3D nanostructures. Based on these experiments, we determine the optimal autofocusing algorithms for different types of structures and applications.