image: Researchers from the Optics Group at the Universitat Jaume I in Castellón have managed to correct in real time problems related to image aberrations in single-pixel microscopy using a recent technology: programmable deformable lenses. The new method was described by the research team in an open-access article recently published in Nature Communications and is part of the development of the European CONcISE project. The solution proposed by this team combines an adaptive lens (which “shapes” the light wavefront in real time) with a sensor-less method that evaluates image sharpness directly from the data, without complex algorithms. This approach corrects distortions caused both by the system and by the sample itself, producing sharper images, close to the physical resolution limit, without adding complexity to the microscope. This adaptive lens is known as a “multi-actuator adaptive lens” (M-AL), which can be easily integrated into the system without significantly modifying the traditional configuration of a single-pixel microscope based on structured illumination. These types of lenses consist of an optically transparent and deformable membrane (similar to a thin sheet of glass or polymer) that can change shape via actuators distributed around or behind it. The actuators that enable this deformation can be of different types: piezoelectric (the most common), which convert an electrical signal into a very precise mechanical deformation, and electrostatic or electromagnetic, which use electric or magnetic fields to deform the lens. Each actuator applies a small local force on the lens surface, allowing high-spatial-resolution wavefront modification—similar to a deformable mirror, but in transmission. Instead of using a camera with millions of pixels, samples are illuminated with a sequence of light patterns, and a single-pixel sensor collects the resulting signal. One of the challenges of this microscopy technique is that the micro-mirror chip generating the patterns, as well as the samples themselves, create small distortions that blur fine details in the images. However, the proposed solution corrects these errors using the deformable lens, providing microscopy images with unprecedented resolution to date. This new method lays the groundwork for future advances and has applications particularly in adaptive microscopy to compensate for aberrations in biological samples; retinal diagnostic instrumentation or vision simulators in ophthalmology; astronomical adaptive optics; industrial imaging systems; and augmented reality in fields such as biomedicine and materials science.
Credit: Universitat Jaume I of Castellón (Spain)
Researchers from the Optics Group at the Universitat Jaume I in Castellón have managed to correct in real time problems related to image aberrations in single-pixel microscopy using a recent technology: programmable deformable lenses. The new method was described by the research team in an open-access article recently published in Nature Communications and is part of the development of the European CONcISE project.
The solution proposed by this team combines an adaptive lens (which “shapes” the light wavefront in real time) with a sensor-less method that evaluates image sharpness directly from the data, without complex algorithms. This approach corrects distortions caused both by the system and by the sample itself, producing sharper images, close to the physical resolution limit, without adding complexity to the microscope.
This adaptive lens is known as a “multi-actuator adaptive lens” (M-AL), which can be easily integrated into the system without significantly modifying the traditional configuration of a single-pixel microscope based on structured illumination. These types of lenses consist of an optically transparent and deformable membrane (similar to a thin sheet of glass or polymer) that can change shape via actuators distributed around or behind it.
The actuators that enable this deformation can be of different types: piezoelectric (the most common), which convert an electrical signal into a very precise mechanical deformation, and electrostatic or electromagnetic, which use electric or magnetic fields to deform the lens. Each actuator applies a small local force on the lens surface, allowing high-spatial-resolution wavefront modification—similar to a deformable mirror, but in transmission.
Instead of using a camera with millions of pixels, samples are illuminated with a sequence of light patterns, and a single-pixel sensor collects the resulting signal. One of the challenges of this microscopy technique is that the micro-mirror chip generating the patterns, as well as the samples themselves, create small distortions that blur fine details in the images. However, the proposed solution corrects these errors using the deformable lens, providing microscopy images with unprecedented resolution to date.
This new method lays the groundwork for future advances and has applications particularly in adaptive microscopy to compensate for aberrations in biological samples; retinal diagnostic instrumentation or vision simulators in ophthalmology; astronomical adaptive optics; industrial imaging systems; and augmented reality in fields such as biomedicine and materials science.
The European doctoral network COmputatioNal Imaging as training Network for Smart biomedical dEvices (CONcISE) is coordinated by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Italy and brings together eight partners, including the UJI. It works on the development of new instrumentation to increase the information content of medical images, making them more usable for healthcare professionals, more comfortable for patients, and simpler for technical staff.
The CONcISE project is funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) under the Horizon Europe framework programme (GA 101072354). The work and the researchers are also supported by other competitively awarded grants, such as PID2022-142907OB-I00, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER/EU, and CIPROM/2023/44, funded by the Generalitat Valenciana.
Article: “Hadamard based single-pixel microscopy using sensor-less adaptive optics supported by multi-actuator adaptive lens”. Heberley Tobón-Maya, Lindsey Willstatter, Samuel I. Zapata-Valencia, Stefano Bonora, Enrique Tajahuerce and Jesús Lancis.
Project website: https://concise-project.eu/
Journal
Nature Communications
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Hadamard based single-pixel microscopy using sensor-less adaptive optics supported by multi-actuator adaptive lens
Article Publication Date
8-Dec-2025