RESUMEN
The spherical aberration induced by refractive-index mismatch results in the degradation on the quality of sectioning images in conventional confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). In this research, we have derived the theory of image formation in a Zeeman laser scanning confocal microscope (ZLSCM) and conducted experiments in order to verify the ability of reducing spherical aberration in ZLSCM. A Zeeman laser is used as the light source and produces the linearly polarized photon-pairs (LPPP) laser beam. With the features of common-path propagation of LPPP and optical heterodyne detection, ZLSCM shows the ability of reducing the specimen-induced spherical aberration and improving the axial resolution simultaneously.
RESUMEN
A novel diffused photon-pair density wave (DPPDW) composed of correlated polarized photon pairs at different temporal frequencies and orthogonal linearly polarized states is proposed. A theory of DPPDWs is developed. A DPPDW selected by coherence gating and polarization gating that satisfies the diffusion equation has been verified experimentally. The sensitivity of amplitude and phase detection of the heterodyne signal has been improved by the properties of synchronized detection and common-path propagation of polarized pair photons in a multiple-scattering medium. Both reduced scattering coefficient micro2s' and absorption coefficient micro2alpha of the scattering medium in terms of the measured phase and amplitude of the heterodyne signal have been obtained. The detection sensitivity of micro2s' and micro2alpha and the properties of a DPPDW in a multiple-scattering medium are discussed and analyzed.