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EP-4741781-A1 - SPECTROMETRY DEVICE AND SPECTROMETRY METHOD

EP4741781A1EP 4741781 A1EP4741781 A1EP 4741781A1EP-4741781-A1

Abstract

A spectrometry apparatus (1) according to the present embodiment includes a first fiber unit (70) that irradiation light enters, a portable unit (80) to which the first fiber unit is connected, a spectrophotometer (50) that disperses signal light rays, a second fiber unit (40) connected to the portable unit (80), a plurality of fibers being adjacently arranged at an entrance end surface and the plurality of fibers being arranged in a multi-line shape at intervals at an exit end surface, and a processing unit that, by referring to a layout relationship among the plurality of fibers at the entrance end surface and the exit end surface of the second fiber unit (40), generates a spectroscopic image of the sample from a result of detection by a two-dimensional array photodetector.

Inventors

  • KUMAMOTO YASUAKI

Assignees

  • The University of Osaka

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240620

Claims (12)

  1. A spectrometry apparatus comprising: a light source that produces irradiation light; a first fiber unit that the irradiation light enters; a portable unit to which the first fiber unit is connected; an irradiation optical system that is housed in the portable unit and guides the irradiation light emitted from the first fiber unit to a sample; a detection optical system that is housed in the portable unit and guides signal light rays from the sample irradiated with the irradiation light; a spectrophotometer that disperses the signal light rays and detects the signal light rays by a two-dimensional array photodetector; a second fiber unit connected to the portable unit and having a plurality of fibers that guide the signal light rays from the detection optical system to the spectrophotometer, the plurality of fibers being adjacently arranged at an entrance end surface of the second fiber unit, and the plurality of fibers being arranged in a multi-line shape at intervals at an exit end surface of the second fiber unit, the exit end surface being located toward the spectrophotometer; and a processing unit that, by referring to a layout relationship among the plurality of fibers at the entrance end surface and the exit end surface of the second fiber unit, generates a spectroscopic image of the sample from a result of detection by the two-dimensional array photodetector.
  2. The spectrometry apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a spatial light modulator that spatially modulates the irradiation light from the light source, wherein the irradiation light modulated by the spatial light modulator enters the first fiber unit.
  3. The spectrometry apparatus according to claim 2, comprising a camera that captures an optical image of the sample, wherein a plurality of spots on the sample extracted based on the optical image are selectively illuminated.
  4. The spectrometry apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an observation illumination light source that produces observation illumination light, wherein observation light from the sample illuminated with the observation illumination light propagates through the irradiation optical system and enters the first fiber unit, and the camera detects the observation light emitted from the first fiber unit.
  5. The spectrometry apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the observation illumination light source is a ring lighting provided at a leading end of the portable unit, the leading end being located toward the sample.
  6. The spectrometry apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the entrance end surface of the second fiber unit is laid out at a position conjugate to the sample.
  7. The spectrometry apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a window that transmits the irradiation light and the signal light rays is provided at a leading end of the portable unit.
  8. The spectrometry apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the number of fibers included in a line decreases toward both ends in a direction corresponding to a dispersion direction of the spectrophotometer at the exit end surface of the second fiber unit.
  9. A spectrometry apparatus comprising: a light source that produces illumination light; a spectrophotometer that disperses signal light rays from a sample illuminated with the illumination light and detects the signal light rays by a two-dimensional array photodetector; a fiber unit having a plurality of fibers laid out in an optical path from the sample to the spectrophotometer, the plurality of fibers being adjacently arranged at an entrance end surface of the fiber unit, and the plurality of fibers being arranged in a multi-line shape at intervals at an exit end surface; and a processing unit that, by referring to a layout relationship among the plurality of fibers at the entrance end surface and the exit end surface of the fiber unit, generates a spectroscopic image of the sample from a result of detection by the two-dimensional array photodetector, wherein the number of fibers included in a line decreases toward both ends in a direction corresponding to a dispersion direction of the spectrophotometer at the exit end surface of the fiber unit.
  10. The spectrometry apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the signal light rays from a plurality of spots of the sample are detected by the spectrophotometer to measure a plurality of spectra, a principal component analysis is performed on the plurality of spectra to calculate scores of principal components, and components contained in the sample are discriminated using the scores of the principal component analysis.
  11. The spectrometry apparatus according to claim 10, wherein signal light rays from a plurality of spots of a reference sample in which the components are known are detected by the spectrophotometer to find a plurality of pieces of learning data, and supervised learning using the learning data is performed to calculate a discriminant that discriminates the components.
  12. A spectrometry method comprising steps of: producing irradiation light from a light source; causing the irradiation light to enter a first fiber unit connected to a portable unit; guiding the irradiation light emitted from the first fiber unit to a sample by an irradiation optical system housed in the portable unit; causing signal light rays from the sample to enter a detection optical system provided in the portable unit; causing the signal light rays propagated through the detection optical system to enter an entrance end surface of a second fiber unit connected to the portable unit, a plurality of fibers being adjacently arranged at the entrance end surface; emitting the signal light rays from an exit end surface of the second fiber unit at which the plurality of fibers are arranged in a multi-line shape at intervals; dispersing the signal light rays emitted from the exit end surface and detecting the signal light rays by a two-dimensional array photodetector; and referring to a layout relationship among the plurality of fibers at the entrance end surface and the exit end surface of the second fiber unit, generating a spectroscopic image of the sample from a result of detection by the two-dimensional array photodetector.

Description

Technical Field The present invention relates to a spectrometry apparatus and a spectrometry method, and more particularly relates to a spectrometry apparatus for subjecting signal light rays such as Raman scattered light produced from a sample to spectrometry to generate a spectroscopic image, and a spectrometry method. Background Art Patent Literature 1 and Non Patent Literature 1 to Non Patent Literature 4 disclose methods for measuring Raman spectra. Patent Literature 1 discloses a multifocal confocal Raman microscope through use of a fiber bundle. Light rays from a pinhole array respectively enter an entrance end of the fiber bundle. In Non Patent Literature 1, a fiber bundle is laid out in front of a spectrophotometer. In addition, in Non Patent Literature 1, fibers are aligned at an exit end. In Non Patent Literature 2, illumination light is modulated by a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator to generate multiple foci. Non Patent Literature 3 discloses a multifocal confocal Raman spectroscopic microscope. In Non Patent Literature 3, multiple foci are generated using a microlens array. Moreover, in Non Patent Literature 3, multiple fibers are used. In Non Patent Literature 4, 21 × 21 = 441 multiple points are simultaneously illuminated. Raman scattered light from the multiple foci are guided to a spectrophotometer through a bundle fiber. Citation List Patent Literature Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-237647 Non Patent Literature Non Patent Literature 1: "High-resolution confocal Raman microscopy using pixel reassignment" Roider, et al., Optics Letters Vol. 41, Issue 16, pp. 3825-3828 (2016)Non Patent Literature 2: "Tissue diagnosis using power-sharing multifocal Raman micro-spectroscopy and auto-fluorescence imaging" Sinjab, et al., Biomed. Opt. Express 7, 2993 (2016).Non Patent Literature 3: "Rapid and accurate peripheral nerve imaging by multipoint Raman spectroscopy" Kumamoto, et al., Sci. Rep. 7, 845 (2017).Non Patent Literature 4: Internet search: https://www.tokyoinst.co.jp/products/detail/raman_microscopy/TI02/index.html [searched on June 16, 2023]Non Patent Literature 5: Internet search: https://www.teminc.co.jp/products/detail-29.php [searched on December 8, 2021] Summary of Invention For various samples, it is desired to subject Raman scattered light to spectrometry to generate a spectroscopic image. In Raman spectroscopic imaging in Non Patent Literature 1 to Non Patent Literature 4, however, the use of an optical microscope enclosure limits samples to sizes that are placeable on an optical microscope stage. This raises a problem in that a large stage or the like is required in order to subject large samples to spectrometry. The present disclosure has been made in view of the above points and has an object to provide a spectrometry apparatus which is compact and can subject various samples to spectrometry, and a spectrometry method. A spectrometry apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a light source that produces irradiation light, a spatial light modulator that spatially modulates the irradiation light from the light source, a first fiber unit that the irradiation light enters, a portable unit to which the first fiber unit is connected, an irradiation optical system that is housed in the portable unit and guides the irradiation light emitted from the first fiber unit to a sample, a detection optical system that is housed in the portable unit and guides signal light rays from the sample irradiated with the irradiation light, a spectrophotometer that disperses the signal light rays and detects the signal light rays by a two-dimensional array photodetector, a second fiber unit connected to the portable unit and having a plurality of fibers that guide the signal light rays from the detection optical system to the spectrophotometer, the plurality of fibers being adjacently arranged at an entrance end surface of the second fiber unit, and the plurality of fibers being arranged in a multi-line shape at intervals at an exit end surface of the second fiber unit, the exit end surface being located toward the spectrophotometer, and a processing unit that, by referring to a layout relationship among the plurality of fibers at the entrance end surface and the exit end surface of the second fiber unit, generates a spectroscopic image of the sample from a result of detection by the two-dimensional array photodetector. The above-described spectrometry apparatus may further include a spatial light modulator that spatially modulates the irradiation light from the light source, in which the irradiation light modulated by the spatial light modulator may enter the first fiber unit. The above-described spectrometry apparatus may include a camera that captures an optical image of the sample, in which a plurality of spots on the sample extracted based on the optical image may be selectively illuminated. The above-described spectrometry apparatus