Researchers from Johns Hopkins University develop a miniscule lens-free endoscope

Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have developed a minuscule, lens-free endoscope, constructed from optical fibres, which is capable of generating exceptional images of neurons firing into the brains of small animals including, mice and rats, without being harmful to their tissues.

Previously developed lens-free endoscopes that have used optical fibres to scan an area of the brain pixel by pixel, have usually resulted in bending through the process, therefore they lose their image quality when flexed. However the JHU researchers have created their minuscule lens-free device so that it doesn’t have any of these drawbacks, by maintaining the image quality through using a coded aperture or flat grid to create a projection in a known pattern which aimlessly blocks out light; this creates a disordered image but provides useful information about where light came from, and as a result can be processed back into a clearer image.