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Time-reversed adapted-perturbation (TRAP) optical focusing onto dynamic objects inside scattering media

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Abstract

The ability to steer and focus light inside scattering media has long been sought for a multitude of applications. At present, the only feasible strategy to form optical foci inside scattering media is to guide photons by using either implanted1 or virtual2,3,4 guide stars, which can be inconvenient and limits the potential applications. Here we report a scheme for focusing light inside scattering media by employing intrinsic dynamics as guide stars. By adaptively time-reversing the perturbed component of the scattered light, we show that it is possible to focus light to the origin of the perturbation. Using this approach, we demonstrate non-invasive dynamic light focusing onto moving targets and imaging of a time-variant object obscured by highly scattering media. Anticipated applications include imaging and photoablation of angiogenic vessels in tumours, as well as other biomedical uses.

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Figure 1: Principle and schematic of TRAP focusing.
Figure 2: Dynamic light focusing onto a moving target hidden inside a scattering medium.
Figure 3: Focusing light onto flowing targets inside biological tissue.
Figure 4: Imaging a hidden time-variant object.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. Zhou for assistance on the flow-control system, L. Wang for discussion on the experimental design, Y. Zhou for assistance on the dye-solution preparation and J. Ballard for editing the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants DP1 EB016986 (NIH Director's Pioneer Award) and R01 CA186567 (NIH Director's Transformative Research Award).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Optical Imaging Laboratory, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, 63130-4899, Missouri, USA

    Cheng Ma, Xiao Xu, Yan Liu & Lihong V. Wang

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  1. Cheng Ma
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  2. Xiao Xu
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  3. Yan Liu
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  4. Lihong V. Wang
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Contributions

C.M. and L.V.W. initiated the project. C.M. and X.X. implemented the DOPC-based system. C.M., X.X. and Y.L. designed and ran the experiments. C.M. wrote the codes for the experiments and simulation, and processed the experimental results. L.V.W. provided overall supervision. All authors were involved in writing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lihong V. Wang.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Ma, C., Xu, X., Liu, Y. et al. Time-reversed adapted-perturbation (TRAP) optical focusing onto dynamic objects inside scattering media. Nature Photon 8, 931–936 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.251

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