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Resolution considerations for structured illumination microscale particle tracking velocimetry

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Abstract

In microscale particle velocimetry, the spatial resolution of velocity measurements along the optical axis is often degraded by signal from tracer particles outside the focal plane. Structured illumination microscopy particle tracking velocimetry (SIM PTV) can eliminate most of this out-of-focus signal by using illumination with a non-zero spatial frequency to preferentially illuminate the in-focus particles. Two such (raw) images can then be combined to eliminate the background signal and demodulate the image. The objective of this study was to quantify and optimize the spatial and temporal resolution of SIM PTV based upon Poiseuille flow in a microchannel at Reynolds numbers Re ≈ 0.02. The axial spatial resolution, estimated for this known velocity profile from the standard deviation of the velocity measurements, is improved by at least a factor of 2 compared with the results for a uniformly illuminated flow. This axial spatial resolution is in good agreement with that given by the point spread function of the imaging system derived by Neil et al. (Neil et al., Opt Lett 22:1905–1907, 1997). The spatial frequency of the illumination that optimizes the spatial resolution is a function of the scattering area of the tracer particles. Interestingly, increasing the number of raw images does not appear to improve the axial resolution. Finally, the temporal resolution of SIM PTV is estimated based upon both image and velocity acquisition times.

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The data used for this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request by email.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (Grant 57789-ND9) and the Mechanical Sciences Branch of the US Army Research Office (Contract No. W911NF-17-1-0389).

Funding

This work was supported by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (Grant 57789-ND9) and the Mechanical Sciences Branch of the US Army Research Office (Contract No. W911NF-17–1-0389).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

    Michael Spadaro & Minami Yoda

Authors
  1. Michael Spadaro
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  2. Minami Yoda
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Contributions

M. S. and M. Y. contributed to the design and planning of the experiments. M. S. carried out the experiments. M. S. and M. Y. contributed to the analysis and discussion of the results, writing and revising the manuscript, and designing the figures.

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Correspondence to Minami Yoda.

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The authors declare that they have no financial or commercial competing interests.

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Spadaro, M., Yoda, M. Resolution considerations for structured illumination microscale particle tracking velocimetry. Exp Fluids 64, 33 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-022-03563-x

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