Lightweight mechanical amplifiers for rolled dielectric elastomer actuators and their integration with bio-inspired wing flappers.

Hyperspectral imaging has proven significance in bio-imaging applications and it has the ability to capture up to several hundred images of different wavelengths offering relevant spectral signatures. To use hyperspectral imaging for in vivo monitoring and diagnosis of the internal body cavities, a snapshot hyperspectral video-endoscope is required. However, such reported systems provide only about 50 wavelengths. We have developed a four-dimensional snapshot hyperspectral video-endoscope with a spectral range of 400–1000 nm, which can detect 756 wavelengths for imaging, significantly more than such systems. Capturing the three-dimensional datacube sequentially gives the fourth dimension. All these are achieved through a flexible two-dimensional to one-dimensional fiber bundle. The potential of this custom designed and fabricated compact biomedical probe is demonstrated by imaging phantom tissue samples in reflectance and fluorescence imaging modalities. It is envisaged that this novel concept and developed probe will contribute significantly towards diagnostic in vivo biomedical imaging in the near future.

Bioinert gold nanoparticles of various shapes and functionalities are widely accepted as contrast agents (CAs) for several modalities of imaging, viz., electron microscopy, computerized tomography (CT), X-ray and photoacoustic (PA) imaging. However, testing of novel compact-imaging probes for ocular diagnostic imaging is always challenging. Here, ultra-fast microwave oven synthesized gold nanocages (AuNcgs) were successfully demonstrated for high-contrast PA ocular imaging for the first time. Methods are described for the synthesis, characterization and application of quickly synthesized AuNcgs in diagnostic ocular imaging. PA and ultrasound (US) images were acquired using a commercial US imaging scanner integrated with a tunable nanosecond pulsed laser. This integrated hybrid-modality system is a combined PA and US platform for imaging which enabled acquiring of complementary structural and optical absorption-based information simultaneously. Initial experiments were conducted using tubings filled with solutions of different concentrations of quickly synthesized AuNcgs. Biological PA and US imagings were demonstrated using enucleated porcine eye samples. Based on the acquired results, it is envisaged that AuNcgs can be employed as a high strength PA CA to potentially diagnose ocular disease like uveal melanoma in the near future.

A spatial-scanning pushbroom hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system incorporating a video camera (VC) which is not only used for direct video imaging but also for the selection of the region of interest within the VC’s full field-of-view is presented. Using a VC for these two applications brings many benefits to a pushbroom HSI system, such as a minimized data acquisition time and smaller data storage requirement. A detailed description of the system followed by the methods and formulas used for calibration and electronic hardware interfacing were discussed and analyzed using United States Air Force resolution chart, chicken breast tissue, and fluorescent targets as test samples. The proposed concepts and developed system can find potential biomedical imaging applications and can be extended to endoscopic imaging applications as well.