STTR Phase I: Compact Aberration Compensated Focus and Scan Control for Biomedical Sensors

这个小型企业技术转让第一阶段项目将展示创新的像差补偿聚焦控制设备的技术和商业可行性，以革命性地改善医疗成像。目前，通过对可疑组织进行体外成像来诊断和治疗各种医学病症，这需要侵入性的、耗时的活检。已经开发了几种体内医学成像技术，并且显示出对于疾病诊断和治疗是有效的（共焦、OCT等）。然而，这些商业系统对于大多数天然生物系统的成像来说仍然太大。这是由于光学组件的尺寸、它们被光栅扫描以产生图像的方式以及在扫描期间引起的固有光学像差。该项目将通过结合两个关键创新来创建紧凑、小型化的无像差聚焦控制/扫描设备来解决这些问题：用于聚焦控制和球面像差补偿的极小、低成本、大行程的微机电可变形反射镜和用于检测和控制由可变形反射镜引起的像差的小型化波前传感器。在提供关键的概念验证演示后，该团队将创建原型设备设计，并根据其预期性能和预计尺寸，重量和功耗确定其技术可行性。这种小型化的像差补偿聚焦控制/光栅扫描装置的潜在商业回报是非常大的。应用不仅包括生物医学成像，还扩展到其他市场，包括数码相机和手机相机。保守的市场估计表明，在未来三年内，该设备的销售可以提供超过2700万美元的年总收入。该团队将咨询行业专家，吸引医疗成像市场的潜在客户，并确定该设备的市场插入点。该小组还将联系主要的手机和数码相机制造商。根据这些潜在客户的反应，对竞争格局的审查以及预计的上市时间，该团队将确定该设备的商业可行性。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of an innovative aberration compensated focus control device for a revolutionary improvement in medical imaging. Currently, a variety of medical conditions are diagnosed and treated through in vitro imaging of suspicious tissues, requiring invasive, time-consuming biopsies. Several in vivo medical imaging technologies have been developed and shown to be efficacious for disease diagnosis and treatment (confocal, OCT, etc.). These commercial systems, however, remain too large for imaging of most native biological systems. This is due to the size of the optical assemblies, the manner in which they are raster scanned to create images, and inherent optical aberrations induced during scanning. This project will solve these problems by creating a compact, miniaturized aberration free focus control/scanning device by combining two critical innovations: extremely small, low cost, large stroke, micro-electro-mechanical deformable mirrors for focus control and compensation of spherical aberration and a miniaturized wavefront sensor to detect and control aberrations induced by the deformable mirror. After providing critical proof-of-concept demonstrations, the team will create a prototype device design and determine its technical feasibility based upon its expected performance and projected size, weight and power consumption. The potential commercial payoff for this miniaturized aberration compensated focus control/raster scanning device is very large. Applications encompass not only biomedical imaging but extend to other markets including digital cameras and cell phone cameras. Conservative market estimates suggest that within the next three years, sales of this device could provide gross annual revenues greater than $27M. The team will consult with industry experts, engage potential customers for the medical imaging market, and identify market insertion points for the device. The team will also contact major cell phone and digital camera manufacturers. Based upon the response from these potential customers, the examination of the competitive landscape, and the projected time to market, the team will determine the device's commercial feasibility.