Quasi-non-diffracting static light sheets generated by holistically optimized pupil masks

Thin and wide light sheets are crucial for light sheet microscopy with wide field of views and near diffraction-limited resolutions. Non-diffracting light sheets feature wide span ranges but often come with strong sidelobes or increased thicknesses. We develop a computational optimization method for creating light sheets that balance the trade-offs between thickness, non-diffracting range and sidelobes. We show in theory and experiment that our optimized mask extends the static light sheet's non-diffracting range by 50% while keeping its sidelobes below the 20% level. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group

Automated summary

In this study, we develop a computational optimization method for creating thin and wide light sheets that balance the trade-offs between thickness, non-diffracting range, and sidelobes.