“In the first months of the development of my PhD Project, I started studying about light field capturing systems, techniques and cameras developed so far, with deeper interest in the microscopes research. During these months I have also been involved in two training schools of the ETN-FPI program (TS1 and TS2).

As of my research progress, I firstly implemented a prototype of a Fourier integral imaging microscope. Considering the good results achieved, I moved one step forward (which is still on going). In the first implementation, as a proof of concept, the camera was sequentially displaced in order to capture a mosaic of perspectives of the scene. To capture all the series of images in one single shot, my idea is to take advantage of a millilens array (an array of lenslets with pitch in the order of the millimeter) coupled with a CCD sensor. This will help reducing the acquisition and processing time of the images, fundamental specification for biological samples.”

Current status of the project:

A new design for integral microscopes has been proposed. It has been called Fourier integral microscope (FiMic), the microlens array is now placed at the aperture stop (AS) of the Microscope Objective (MO) instead of placing it at the image plane as it was done in the previous design (iMic).

The results lead to improved performances of the integral microscope in terms of:

• Resolution
• Depth of field
• Direct perspective view makes the microscope more user friendly
• Design compactness

Gabriele has a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, and a Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering, both from Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy. During his studies, Gabriele spent two periods abroad, one in Melbourne, Australia and the other in Barcelona, Spain. His academic interests lies in optics and optoelectronics.