3D-PRINT, HIGH RESOLUTION MICROSCOPE

 

For: Mains
Topics covered: 3D Printing, Features, Traditional v/s Modern Printing

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News Flash

Scientists have 3D-printed an inexpensive and portable high-resolution microscope that could potentially be used to detect diabetes, malaria and other diseases in developing countries.

• The portable instrument produces 3D images with twice the resolution of traditional digital holographic microscopy, which is typically performed on an optical table in a laboratory.
• It is small enough to be used in the field or at the bedside and has potential for biomedical applications such as cell identification and disease diagnosis, according to the study published in the journal Optics Letters.
• In addition to biomedical applications, it could also be useful for research, manufacturing, defense and education.

 

Features

• The new microscopy system could resolve features as small as 0.775 microns, double the resolution of traditional systems.
• This new microscope doesn’t require any special staining or labels.
• This could help increase access to low-cost medical diagnostic testing.
• This would be especially beneficial in developing parts of the world where there is limited access to health care and few high-tech diagnostic facilities.
• The entire system consists of 3D printed parts and commonly found optical components, making it inexpensive and easy to replicate.
• Alternative laser sources and image sensors would further reduce the cost.
• A single unit could be reproduced for several hundred dollars. Mass production of the unit would also substantially reduce the cost.

 

Traditional Vs. Modern

In traditional digital holographic microscopy, a digital camera records a hologram produced from interference between a reference light wave and light coming from the sample. A computer then converts this hologram into a 3D image of the sample.

Although this microscopy approach is useful for studying cells without any labels or dyes, it typically requires a complex optical setup and stable environment free of vibrations and temperature fluctuations that can introduce noise in the measurements.

For this reason, digital holographic microscopes are generally only found in laboratories.

The researchers were able to boost the resolution of digital holographic microscopy beyond what is possible with uniform illumination by combining it with a super-resolution technique known as structured illumination microscopy.

The researchers evaluated the system performance by recording images of a resolution chart and then using an algorithm to reconstruct high-resolution images.

 

3D Printing

The term 3D printing covers a variety of processes in which material is joined or solidified under computer control to create a three-dimensional object with material being added together (such as liquid molecules or powder grains being fused together), typically layer by layer.

In the 1990s, 3D printing techniques were considered suitable only for the production of functional or aesthetical prototypes and a more appropriate term was rapid prototyping. Today, the precision, repeatability and material range have increased to the point that some 3D printing processes are considered viable as an industrial production technology, whereby the term additive manufacturing can be used synonymously with 3D printing.

One of the key advantages of 3D printing is the ability to produce very complex shapes or geometries, and a prerequisite for producing any 3D printed part is a digital 3D model or a CAD file.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

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