SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will enable fast focusing and zoom in microscopy with an optomechanical system consisting of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors. The microscope add-on will enable fast 3D imaging in wide-field microscopes and increase focusing and zoom speeds by 100x when compared with conventional methods in confocal and multiphoton microscopy. The technology allows the sample stage and objective lens turret to remain stationary during experiments. It will increase throughput, preserve sensitive samples, enable observation of dynamic events, and reduce training time. The innovation will spur significant discovery in understanding dynamic reactions that occur in in vivo and in vitro microscopy. The initial target market has an estimated gross revenue of $75M. The technology also promises to benefit 3D imaging systems for manufacturing or machine vision, optical coherence tomography, and endoscopic imaging systems by providing high speed and agile focus control. While MEMS are ubiquitous in mobile platforms and the automotive industry for motion sensing, they have not yet permeated other markets or imaging systems to the same extent. With recent advances in fabrication and performance of optical MEMS devices, bringing this type of technology to other platforms can spark greater commercialization of the technology in non-traditional areas. The intellectual merit of this project is foremost the demonstration of a novel optomechanical system with MEMS mirrors for independent control of focusing and zoom in microscopy. MEMS mirrors are a type of varifocus element. They remain stationary while their voltage-controlled, configurable surface shapes allow for fast focusing and attendant correction of spherical aberration. Fast MEMS mirrors, with sufficient diameters for 2x zoom and significant focusing capability, have not previously been demonstrated in literature or commercially. By producing and characterizing fast, large-diameter MEMS mirrors for this project, knowledge of varifocus elements will be advanced. This project will also continue to define standard optical design practices to best utilize varifocus elements, since traditional optical analyses assume fixed focal length lenses or mirrors. The project objectives are three-fold: 1) fabricate large-diameter MEMS mirrors with greater than 40% yield, 2) characterize their focusing range and dynamic behavior, and 3) demonstrate them in a focus and zoom system suitable as a microscopy add-on component.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is an imaging system with complete flexibility in focus and zoom while keeping the sample and all optical lenses stationary. The system will alter magnification without mechanical motion, allowing inspection of samples during manufacturing processes with 100x faster focus and zoom. The attachment will easily integrate with benchtop microscopes for failure analysis, quality assurance in manufacturing, electrophysiology, and cryogenic applications; these solutions can be used in the food, petroleum, and pharmaceutical industries, among others. The proposed SBIR Phase II project will develop fast, small- and large-diameter MEMS mirrors and demonstrate them in a zoom and focus system made for microscopy. Gross electronic focus control capability has only recently become available, enabling the development of new standard optical design practices to best utilize varifocus elements and characterize imaging performance, since traditional optical analyses assume fixed focal length lenses or mirrors. The proposed technology has potential applications in cameras, wide-field, confocal and two-photon microscopes, optical coherence tomography, and endoscopic imaging systems. In this project, a series of MEMS mirrors in combination with standard optics capable of rapid 2x zoom with additional focusing abilities will be developed, enabling a typical 20x optical microscopy to rapidly zoom to 40x. The technical objectives are: 1) improve fabrication and packaging processes on MEMS mirrors; 2) automate characterization of their focusing range and dynamic behavior; 3) design a small form factor, large bandwidth, high-voltage amplifier; and 4) characterize the imaging performance of complete optical systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.