Techniques for scanned illumination

Abstract

Imaging systems are provided for high speed, high resolution imaging of biochemical materials. In an example embodiment, an imaging system comprises an objective lens component, a line generator, a digital camera, a positioning stage, and a scan mirror. The line generator generates a line of light that is scanned across a portion of a substrate that is mounted on the positioning stage. The positioning stage moves the substrate in a particular direction that is substantially normal to an optical axis of the objective lens component. The camera collects an image of the portion of the substrate through the objective lens component. The scan mirror moves in coordination with the positioning stage, while the line of light is being scanned across the portion of the substrate and the substrate is being moved in the particular direction, in order to keep the image still with respect to the camera while the image is being collected by the camera.

1 .- 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . A method of operating a digital camera comprising steps of:
 (a) scanning a thin strip of light across an object to expose row by row pixels in an image sensor of the digital camera; and   (b) reading out the pixels row by row in rolling readout mode after exposure in step (a).   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein reading out the pixels takes longer than scanning the thin strip of light across the object. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the pixels are kept dark between exposure and reading out. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the camera comprises a split-readout sensor having at least two sections, and wherein steps (a) and (b) are performed independently in each section of the sensor. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein steps (a) and (b) in one section are performed in parallel to steps (a) and (b) in another section. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein steps (a) and (b) in one section are performed in anti-parallel to steps (a) and (b) in another section. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the camera is operating in correlated double sampling mode. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the thin strip of light has a wavelength appropriate for fluorescence excitation while pixels in the image sensor are exposed by light having a wavelength corresponding to fluorescence emission. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the thin strip of light exposes two or more rows of pixels at a time. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 26  wherein step (a) comprises:
 scanning a line of light by changing an angle of a scan mirror so that the image of the portion of the object that is acquired by an objective lens component is kept still with respect to the digital camera while the object is moving in a continuous motion, thereby exposing first one or more rows of pixels spanned by the image while keeping in the dark a second one or more rows of pixels spanned by the image; 
 and wherein step (b) comprises 
 reading out the first one or more rows of pixels while continuing to scan the line of light across the portion of the object thereby exposing the second one or more rows of pixels. 
 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35  wherein a third one or more rows of pixels are different than the first one or more rows of pixels.