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Imaging Samples in Silica Aerogel Using an Experimental Point Spread Function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Amanda J. White Open the ORCID record for Amanda J. White [Opens in a new window]  and
Denton S. Ebel
Amanda J. White*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
Denton S. Ebel
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
*
*Corresponding author. [email protected]
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Abstract

Light microscopy is a powerful tool that allows for many types of samples to be examined in a rapid, easy, and nondestructive manner. Subsequent image analysis, however, is compromised by distortion of signal by instrument optics. Deconvolution of images prior to analysis allows for the recovery of lost information by procedures that utilize either a theoretically or experimentally calculated point spread function (PSF). Using a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM), we have imaged whole impact tracks of comet particles captured in silica aerogel, a low density, porous SiO2 solid, by the NASA Stardust mission. In order to understand the dynamical interactions between the particles and the aerogel, precise grain location and track volume measurement are required. We report a method for measuring an experimental PSF suitable for three-dimensional deconvolution of imaged particles in aerogel. Using fluorescent beads manufactured into Stardust flight-grade aerogel, we have applied a deconvolution technique standard in the biological sciences to confocal images of whole Stardust tracks. The incorporation of an experimentally measured PSF allows for better quantitative measurements of the size and location of single grains in aerogel and more accurate measurements of track morphology.

Keywords

point spread functiondeconvolutionaerogelStardustconfocal
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 172 - 178
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2014 

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