Wavefront Shaping: Improving Medical Imaging with Astronomical Technique

Caltech researchers have developed a new method for improving medical imaging using wavefront shaping, inspired by astronomical techniques. This approach is used to correct optical distortion caused by scattering of light in biological tissue, which can make images of microscopic structures appear distorted. The researchers drew inspiration from wavefront shaping techniques used to correct for atmospheric distortion in astronomical imaging.

Researchers at Caltech have made progress in medical imaging by adapting wavefront shaping techniques from astronomy to counteract the distortion caused by biological tissue. By using a “magic mirror” made of a photo-refractive crystal, the team achieved high-speed, high-energy gain, and high control degrees of freedom. Biological tissue is also a scattering medium, making microscopic images appear cloudy. The “magic mirror” cancels out distortion caused by tissue, potentially improving cancer detection below the skin. This new process of medical wavefront shaping has the potential to sharply focus on tissue to detect cancer below the skin.

The research on high-gain and high-speed wavefront shaping through scattering media was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH). The authors of the study are Zhongtao Cheng, Chengmingyue Li, Anjul Khadria, Yide Zhang, and Lihong V. Wang, and the study was published in the journal Nature Photonics on January 23, 2023, with a DOI of 10.1038/s41566-022-01142-4.