Effects of axial scanning in confocal microscopy employing adaptive lenses (CAL)

We analyze axial scanning in Confocal microscopy based on Adaptive Lenses (CAL). A tunable lens located in the illumination path of a confocal setup enables scanning the focus position by applying an electrical voltage. This opens up the possibility to replace mechanical axial scanning which is commonly used. In our proof-of-principle experiment, we demonstrate a tuning range of about 380 mu m. The range can easily be extended by using the whole possible tuning range. During the scan the axial resolution degrades by a factor of about 2.3. The deterioration is introduced by aberrations that strongly depend on the scanning process. Therefore a second lens is located in the detection path of the CAL setup to balance the aberration effects. Both experiments and simulations show that this approach allows creating a homogeneous axial resolution throughout the scan. This is at the cost of tuning range which halves to about 200 mu m. The lateral resolution is not noticeably affected and amounts to 500 nm.