EAPSI: Implementation of Ultra-Fast Control to Advance Benchtop Nonlinear Imaging Systems for Clinical Imaging Viability

二次谐波产生（SHG）成像是一种非线性光学过程，其中光子有效地“联合收割机”，是用于可视化和量化包括癌症、纤维化、结缔组织疾病和心血管疾病在内的广泛疾病中胶原结构差异的强大诊断工具。目前，我们的成像系统的所有成像硬件和偏振设备都是以非常低效的方式同步的。该项目利用了陈显仁教授在现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）编程方面的深厚专业知识。他的实验室设在台湾台南的国立成功大学。该项目使用FPGA编程，旨在提高台式成像平台的速度和效率，以用于潜在的临床用途。SHG成像的多功能性使得它可以与偏振技术相结合，用于检测指示早期疾病发作的各种胶原异构体分布。我们目前的成像设置与奥林巴斯Fluoview 300激光扫描系统安装在奥林巴斯BX 61直立显微镜耦合各种偏振光学组件。该系统在无限空间使用液晶调制器（LCM）提供精确的无运动激发偏振控制，并在光电倍增管（PMT）检测器之前使用电动安装上的可旋转Glan激光偏振器（GLP）进行发射偏振门控。目前，所有这些偏振设备都是使用通过National Instruments BNC-2110连接器块连接的定制LabVIEW程序进行同步的，这是低效和缓慢的。为了克服这些问题，并使我们的系统在潜在的内窥镜应用中更加可行，我们希望使用逻辑块实现现场可编程门阵列（FPGA），以更快的速度和效率将我们的DAQ板和硬件互连。这个NSF EAPSI奖是与台湾科技部合作资助的。

Second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging, a nonlinear optical process in which photons effectively "combine", is a powerful diagnostic tool for visualizing and quantifying differences in collagen architecture in a wide range of diseases including cancer, fibrosis, connective tissue disorders and cardiovascular disease. Currently, all the imaging hardware and polarization devices of our imaging system are synchronized in an extremely inefficient way. This project takes advantage of profound expertise of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) programming in Professor Shean-Jen Chen?s laboratory at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. Using FPGA programming, this projects aims for improving the speed and efficiency of the benchtop imaging platform for potential clinical use.The versatility of SHG imaging is such that it can be coupled with polarization techniques for detecting various collagen isoform distribution indicative of early disease onset. Our current imaging setup operates with the Olympus Fluoview 300 laser-scanning system mounted on an Olympus BX61 upright microscope coupled with various polarization optical components. The system offers precise, motion-free control of excitation polarization using a liquid crystal modulator (LCM) in the infinity space and emission polarization gating using a rotatable Glan-laser polarizer (GLP) on a motorized mount before the photomultiplier tube (PMT) detector. Currently, all of these polarization devices are synchronized using custom LabVIEW programs connected through a National Instruments BNC-2110 connector block that is inefficient and slow. To overcome these issues and progress our system to be more viable for potential endoscopic use, we wish to implement a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) using logic blocks to interconnect our DAQ boards and hardware with much more speed and efficiency. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.