Client
Eurostars supports international innovative projects led by research and development- performing small- and medium-sized enterprises (R&D-performing SMEs). With its bottom-up approach, Eurostars supports the development of rapidly marketable innovative products, processes and services that help improve the daily lives of people around the world.
Eurostars is a joint program between EUREKA and the European Commission, co-funded from the national budgets of 36 Eurostars Participating States and Partner Countries and by the European Union through Horizon 2020.
Partners
- JenLab (Germany, Berlin) provides femtosecond laser technology for medicine, biotechnology and cell biology. Applications include early detection of skin cancer and other tissue pathologies, the measurement of the skin ageing index, rapid analysis of biopsies, stem cell and neuron tracking in transgenic mice, the evaluation of sunscreen nanoparticles and testing of anti-ageing components.
- LaserSpec (Belgium, Malonne) manufactures OPO tunable from the UV (255 nm) to the infrared (20 μm) and working in the CW, nanosecond and picosecond temporal regimes.
- Multitel (Belgium, Mons) is a research center created in 1995 by the Engineering Faculty of the University of Mons. The mission of Multitel consists, as a priority, in helping Walloon companies to integrate effectively new technologies in their products, processes and services, in order to improve their competiveness and to reach a sustainable economic prosperity. Furthermore, with the passing years, Multitel develops and integrates emerging technologies into the industrial fabric at the regional and international levels in order to help companies to take up technological challenges
- The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. LZH (Germany, Hannover) has carried out, for more than 33 years, research, development and consulting in the fields of laser technology, optics and photonics.
Project
[CARMEN: CARs and Multiphoton microscopy Enabled]
To develop a unique histology-suitable imaging system with nonlinear microscopy and super-resolution capabilities based on an innovative and optimized laser system. The novel imaging system will allow to perform fs two-photon and fs/ps CARS microscopy as well as to evaluate STED microscopy on ex vivo biopsies. The CARMEN system will be the first imaging system combining nonlinear, super-resolution imaging based on a novel fiber laser-pumped OPO system for tunable dual colour fs/ps excitation.
In the EU-project CARMEN scientists and companies work on a multimodal imaging system for three imaging methods.
[Graphic from J. of Medical Imaging, 2(1), 016003 (2015)]
The main project goal is to develop a novel multimodal imaging platform for ex vivo histology and other biomedical and cosmetic applications in hospitals. An important application will be the detection of tumor margins of freshly excised samples right after or even during surgery. The CARMEN imaging system can also be used to track pharmaceuticals and nanoparticles in situ and to test the efficacy of cosmetic products microscopically and to image fluorescent as well as non-fluorescent molecules inside deep tissue and characterize ex vivo biopsies and tissue samples. The system will incorporate a newly developed air-cooled laser system with tunable dual colour femtosecond (fs) and picosecond (ps) pulse outputs. The ability of the fiber-laser pumped OPO light source to independently tune the spectral outputs with fs as well as ps pulse capability will make the system flexible, easy to use and versatile applicable. The novel laser system will allow a significant reduction in terms of price, maintenance effort and overall size/weight in comparison with conventional Ti:Sa-OPO-based systems.
The new laser system will be an easy-to-integrate also into other systems for material processing or imaging applications. Although, ultrafast laser systems with tunable dual colour output can be realized with current available laser systems, the new laser system will be a significant improvement in terms of size, ease of use, weight, and price. Furthermore, it will offer the same robustness and liability as much larger and more expensive systems and will therefore provide a breakthrough for the above mentioned microscopy applications.
A typical overlay of different imaging methods. Within the EU-project CARMEN scientist and companies work on combining three imaging methods in a novel multimodal imaging system. [Graphic from J. of Medical Imaging, 2(1), 016003 (2015)]
Challenge(s)
DELTATEC has in charge three important parts of the system:
- The development of a microscope system control custom PCI express board, hosting a high end FPGA and its firmware. The board controls and synchronizes the laser sources and shutters, the data acquisition system, the scanning mirrors and the translation table.
- The development of laser sources management custom board, a PCB hosting interfaces to control the laser sources chains elements. The board hosts a microprocessor with custom embedded software implementing elements protections mechanisms.
- The user software and its graphical user interface that controls the microscope, i.e. its electronics and laser sources. It also manages the images capture, storage and visualization. It gives the user access to system key parameters.
Solution
Thanks to its PCB/ embedded software and FPGA design expertise, DELTATEC is able to propose and develop a complete solution to achieve the above objectives.