Imaging flow cytometry with a real-time throughput beyond 1,000,000 events per second.

Imaging flow cytometry (IFC) combines the imaging capabilities of microscopy with the high throughput of flow cytometry, offering a promising solution for high-precision and high-throughput cell analysis in fields such as biomedicine, green energy, and environmental monitoring. However, due to limitations in imaging framerate and real-time data processing, the real-time throughput of existing IFC systems has been restricted to approximately 1000-10,000 events per second (eps), which is insufficient for large-scale cell analysis. In this work, we demonstrate IFC with real-time throughput exceeding 1,000,000 eps by integrating optical time-stretch (OTS) imaging, microfluidic-based cell manipulation, and online image processing.

Multidimensional ultrashort optical pulse manipulation using spatial light modulation.

Ultrashort optical pulse manipulation is one of the key techniques for applications such as high-speed imaging and high-precision laser processing. In this study, we demonstrate the multidimensional manipulation of ultrashort optical pulses by integrating spatial dispersion and spatial light modulation. Specifically, by modulating the phase of each wavelength, we achieve arbitrary adjustments in multiple dimensions, including number of sub pulses, time interval, intensity, and pulse width simultaneously and independently with a simple setup and few calculations.

Optofluidic time-stretch imaging flow cytometry with a real-time storage rate beyond 5.9 GB/s.

Optofluidic time-stretch imaging flow cytometry (OTS-IFC) provides a suitable solution for high-precision cell analysis and high-sensitivity detection of rare cells due to its high-throughput and continuous image acquisition. However, transferring and storing continuous big data streams remains a challenge. In this study, we designed a high-speed streaming storage strategy to store OTS-IFC data in real-time, overcoming the imbalance between the fast generation speed in the data acquisition and processing subsystem and the comparatively slower storage speed in the transmission and storage subsystem.