Highly sensitive lens-free fluorescence imaging device enabled by a complementary combination of interference and absorption filters.

We report a lens-free fluorescence imaging device using a composite filter composed of an interference filter and an absorption filter, each applied to one side of a fiber optic plate (FOP). The transmission of angled excitation light through the interference filter is absorbed by the absorption filter. The auto-fluorescence of the absorption filter is reduced by the reflection from the interference filter of normally incident excitation light. As a result, high-performance rejection of excitation light is achieved in a lens-free device. The FOP provides a flat, hard imaging device surface that does not degrade the spatial resolution. We demonstrate excitation rejection of approximately 10 ⁸ :1 at a wavelength of 450 nm in a fabricated lens-free device. The resolution of fluorescence imaging is approximately 12 µ m. Time-lapse imaging of cells containing green fluorescent protein was performed in a 5- µ m thin-film chamber. The small dimensions of the device allow observation of cell culturing in a CO ₂ incubator. We also demonstrate that the proposed lens-free filter is compatible with super-resolution bright-field imaging techniques. These features open a way to develop a high-performance, dual-mode, lens-free imaging device that is expected to be a powerful tool for many applications, such as imaging of labeled cells and point-of-care assay.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this article.