NIR-II squeezed light-field microscopy enables high-speed volumetric imaging of deep-tissue dynamics in vivo
- 1University of California, Los Angeles
Abstract
High-speed three-dimensional imaging in scattering biological tissues remains challenging because volumetric microscopy generally requires scanning, whereas snapshot light-field approaches divide limited detector pixels among multiple views. This constraint is particularly severe in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II), where InGaAs cameras have small sensor formats and high detector noise. Here we introduce NIR-II squeezed light-field microscopy (NIR-II SLIM), which optically rotates and compresses multiple perspective views before detection, allowing efficient use of camera pixels while retaining complementary spatial information for three-dimensional reconstruction. NIR-II SLIM acquires up to 600 volumes s-1 with a reconstructed lateral sampling grid of 512 x 512 pixels. We use this method for label-free imaging of cardiac dynamics in pigmented late-larval zebrafish, resolving chamber deformation and millisecond-scale atrioventricular-valve motion, and for NIR-II fluorescence imaging of vascular and lymphatic transport in mice. NIR-II SLIM provides a detector-efficient approach for high-speed volumetric imaging of rapid biological dynamics in scattering tissues.
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BibTeX
@misc{kim2026nirii,
title = {{NIR-II squeezed light-field microscopy enables high-speed volumetric imaging of deep-tissue dynamics in vivo}},
author = {D. Y. Kim and Z. Zang and E. Y. Lin and R. Zhao and J. Wang and C. Y. Kam and T. Hsiai and E. M. Sletten and L. Gao},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.13.744709},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.13.744709v2},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - NIR-II squeezed light-field microscopy enables high-speed volumetric imaging of deep-tissue dynamics in vivo
AU - D. Y. Kim
AU - Z. Zang
AU - E. Y. Lin
AU - R. Zhao
AU - J. Wang
AU - C. Y. Kam
AU - T. Hsiai
AU - E. M. Sletten
AU - L. Gao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/13
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.13.744709
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.13.744709v2
AB - High-speed three-dimensional imaging in scattering biological tissues remains challenging because volumetric microscopy generally requires scanning, whereas snapshot light-field approaches divide limited detector pixels among multiple views. This constraint is particularly severe in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II), where InGaAs cameras have small sensor formats and high detector noise. Here we introduce NIR-II squeezed light-field microscopy (NIR-II SLIM), which optically rotates and compresses multiple perspective views before detection, allowing efficient use of camera pixels while retaining complementary spatial information for three-dimensional reconstruction. NIR-II SLIM acquires up to 600 volumes s-1 with a reconstructed lateral sampling grid of 512 x 512 pixels. We use this method for label-free imaging of cardiac dynamics in pigmented late-larval zebrafish, resolving chamber deformation and millisecond-scale atrioventricular-valve motion, and for NIR-II fluorescence imaging of vascular and lymphatic transport in mice. NIR-II SLIM provides a detector-efficient approach for high-speed volumetric imaging of rapid biological dynamics in scattering tissues.
ER -