Advancing Biomedical Imaging Performance over the UV, Visible and IR with Nanostructured Antireflection Coatings

A.K. Sood, J.W. Zeller, A.W. Sood, L.S. Chaudhary, H. Efstathiadis
Magnolia Optical Technologies Inc.,
United States

Keywords: advanced bio-medical imaging, nanostructured optica coating, improved performace

Summary:

Advancing Biomedical Imaging Performance over the UV, Visible and IR with Nanostructured Antireflection Coatings Ashok K. Sood, John W. Zeller, and Adam W. Sood Magnolia Optical Technologies, Inc., 52-B Cummings Park, Suite 314, Woburn, MA 01801 Magnolia Optical Technologies Inc, 251 Fuller Road, CESTM B250, Albany NY 12203 Latika S. Chaudhary and Harry Efstathiadis College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, 257 Fuller Road, Albany, NY 12203 ABSTRACT The effectiveness of medical imaging system, e.g., for early disease detection, diagnosis, and prognosis, is largely dependent on the amount of detected light or signal that can be received at the optical sensor for a specific type of biomedical detection or imaging application/method. Losses due to reflection of radiation off uncoated substrates and optical components substantially inhibit optical performance of detector and imaging systems. Nevertheless, even relatively small enhancements to further enable and improve the optical detection capabilities such as in speed, resolution, and/or precision can have a substantial impact on the overall performance and efficacy of such imaging systems. Nanotechnology involving materials with interatomic structural properties on a scale of one billionth (nano: 10−9) of a meter is an exciting and rapidly expanding area which has directly or indirectly facilitated outstanding advancements in recently years and decades to practically every field of science and engineering. A particularly novel means of maximizing the transmission of light into the surface of an optical sensor has been the recent development and growth of multiple optical layers of nanostructured materials with tunable refractive index properties that can offer unparalleled suppression of light reflection and scattering, thereby greatly increasing transmission of light onto the surface of optical sensors and imagers. The optimized antireflection (AR) nanostructured coatings, providing order of magnitude performance improvements in broadband and omnidirectional suppression of light reflection and scattering over conventional thin film AR coatings, have been experimentally demonstrated at Magnolia using an advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) process. These patented nanostructured AR coatings can thus benefit and advance in terms both of technical capabilities and cost a diverse array of healthcare and biomedical optical imaging techniques and systems over visible to long-wave infrared (LWIR) wavelengths for a variety of essential applications.