Detection of Site-dependent Segmental Mobility of Polymer by Fluorescent Defocused Imaging

Polymer chain ends play an important role in the glassy dynamics of polymeric materials. In this study, a combination of single molecule defocus fluorescence microscopy and well-controlled atom transfer radical polymerization was used to investigate site-dependent segmental mobility of poly（n-butyl methacrylate）. As the temperature increased, the rotation of fluorophores, which were selectively labelled in chain end and chain middle, was gradually activated. The power spectra of rotation trajectories, the distribution of angular displacement as well as the population of rotating fluorophores demonstrated that the local dynamics was more activated at the chain ends than the middles, showing the unique contribution of the chain end to the dynamics of the system.

Blurred Defocused Image Restoration Based on FRFT

A technique for restoring the blurred image resulted from defocusing of the lens is proposed in this paper, which is based on fractional Fourier transform （FRFT）.The FRFT, as a powerful tool for the analysis of time-varying signals, is closely connected with the optical imaging system. FRFT also can describe optical imaging process just like Fresnel diffractions, so a defocused imaging model based on FRFT is established to explain the blur phenomena of defocusing image. The defocused imaging model is greatly different from the traditional point spread function （PSF） model, and enables to uncover the blur nature of non-focus image. Then, an image restoration method using the novel model is proposed to handle the blurred defocused image. The method adopted a new iterative phase retrieval approach which can approximately estimate phase signals from intensity signals of a single defocused image by means of FRFT. Restoring image may acquire sharp image by implementing inverse FRFT on complex image signal made from the estimated phase signals and intensity signals. Experimental results demonstrate that the method is effective in restoring blurred defocused image.

Image defocus deblurring method based on gradient difference of boundary neighborhood

Background For static scenes with multiple depth layers,existing defocused image deblurring methods have the problems of edge-ringing artifacts or insufficient deblurring owing to inaccurate estimation of the blur amount,and prior knowledge in nonblind deconvolution is not strong,which leads to image detail recovery challenges.Methods To this end,this study proposes a blur map estimation method for defocused images based on the gradient difference of the boundary neighborhood,which uses the gradient difference of the boundary neighborhood to accurately obtain the amount of blurring,thereby preventing boundary ringing artifacts.The obtained blur map is then used for blur detection to determine whether the image needs to be deblurred,thereby improving the efficiency of deblurring without manual intervention and judgment.Finally,a nonblind deconvolution algorithm was designed to achieve image deblurring based on the blur amount selection strategy and sparse prior.Results Experimental results showed that our method improves PSNR(Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio)and SSIM(Structural Similarity Index)by an average of 4.6%and 7.3%,respectively,compared to existing methods.Conclusions Experimental results showed that the proposed method outperforms existing methods.Compared to existing methods,our method can better solve the problems of boundary ringing artifacts and detail information preservation in defocused image deblurring.

Study on Focusing of Area Array Camera by Using Frequency of Images

Focusing of an area array camera is an important step in making a high precision imaging camera. Its testing method needs special study. In this paper, a method of camera focusing is introduced. The defocusing depth of camera is calculated by using the frequency spectrum of defocused image. This method is especially suitable for the focusing of the Planar Array Camera, and avoids the complicated work of adjusting the focus plane of the planar array camera in the focusing process.

Estimation of particle depth from two defocused images using the Fourier transform

Depth from defocus is one technology for depth estimation.We estimate particle depth information from two defocused images captured simultaneously by two coaxial cameras with different imaging distances.The images are processed with the Fourier transform to obtain the characteristic parameter(i.e.,the standard deviation of the relative blur kernel of these two defocused images).First,we theoretically analyze the functional relationship between the object depth and the standard deviation or variation of the relative blur kernel.Then,we verify the relationship experimentally.We analyze the influence of particle size,window size and image noise on the calibration curves using both numerical simulations and experiments.We obtain the depth range and accuracy of this measurement system experimentally.For the verification experiments,we use a sample of glass microbeads and the irregularly-shaped dust particles on a microscope slide.Both of these experiments present a suitable depth measurement result.Finally,we apply the measuring system to the depth estimation of drops from a small anti-fogging spray.The results show that our system and image processing algorithm are robust for different types of particles,facilitating the in-line three-dimensional positioning of particles.

Positioning a fluorescent probe at the core of a glassy star polymer for detection of local dynamics

Accessing local dynamics within a single macromolecule is the key to understand the physical origin of the viscoelasticity and especially the glass transition. In order to extract specific information on the dynamics of the branch point of a star polymer around its glass transition temperature, four-arm star poly （n-butyl methacrylate） with a fluorescent core was synthesized using perylene diimide as initiator and polymerization conducted via atom transfer radical polymerization. The process is found to be effective in positioning the fluorophore at the branch point with the fluorophore intact, which allows the successful application of single molecule fluorescence defocus imaging in examining the local site- sensitive dynamics. The power spectra of rotation trajectories, the population of rotating fluorophores as well as the distribution of angular displacement were used to revel the difference in local dynamics between branch point and the arm＇s end. It is discovered that the local dynamics at the core of the star polymer is much less activated than that at the arm＇s end. The results demonstrate the strong effect dues to the topological constrain at the branch point and the more free space at the arm＇s end.