Wide-field imaging combined with confocal microscopy using a miniature f/5 camera integrated within a high NA objective lens.

Overview

Wide-field (WF) imaging paired with reflectance confocal microscopy can noninvasively detect skin cancer with high accuracy. However, two separate devices are required to perform each imaging procedure. We describe a new concept that integrates the two into one device: a miniature WF color camera within the objective lens used for confocal microscopy, providing simultaneous sub-surface cellular imaging and WF surface morphologic imaging. The camera, inserted between a hyperhemisphere front lens and a back lens group of the objective, commands a field of view of 4.0 mm, with a resolution better than 30 μm, while confocal optical sectioning is preserved at sharper than 2.5 μm.