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The performance of light-field microscopy is improved by selectively illuminating the relevant subvolume of the specimen with a second objective lens. Here we advance this approach to a single-objective geometry, using an oblique one-photon illumination path or two-photon illumination to accomplish selective-volume excitation. The elimination of the second orthogonally oriented objective to selectively excite the volume of interest simplifies specimen mounting; yet, this single-objective approach still reduces the out-of-volume background, resulting in improvements in image contrast, effective resolution, and volume reconstruction quality. We validate our new, to the best of our knowledge, approach through imaging live developing zebrafish, demonstrating the technology’s ability to capture imaging data from large volumes synchronously with high contrast while remaining compatible with standard microscope sample mounting.
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This content will become publicly available on February 21, 2026
Exchange-selective excitation pulses for dynamic magnetic resonance
Coherent evolution is punctuated by dynamical processes such as chemical exchange, conformational transformation, or site hopping in many important problems ranging from biomolecular function to ion trap quantum computation. One well-explored example is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, where experimental development is grounded in decades-old theory, but structural dynamics are not easily integrated into this picture. Here, we introduce an approach that selectively excites NMR resonances that undergo chemical exchange while suppressing the signal arising from nondynamic components of the system. We show that for exchange rates spanning more than four orders of magnitude, one can still selectively excite spins undergoing exchange while suppressing static resonances. Generalizing this approach, to selectively excite (or selectively preserve) only members of an ensemble that have undergone exchange or rearrangement, has the potential to improve the analytical power of many spectroscopic techniques.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2003109
- PAR ID:
- 10649801
- Publisher / Repository:
- AAAS
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 2375-2548
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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