At SPIE BiOS 2026, the biomedical optics part of Photonics West in San Francisco, Phaseform CTO Dr. Pouya Rajaeipour presented a compact, modular adaptive optics extension for commercial microscopes: the architecture behind PHI. The talk was given on 18 January 2026 in the conference Adaptive Optics and Wavefront Control for Biological Systems XII; the recorded presentation was published in the SPIE Digital Library on 6 March 2026.
The problem
Aberrations from refractive-index mismatch, optical inhomogeneity and instrument flaws reduce resolution and contrast in microscopy. Environmental changes such as temperature shifts add further distortion. Adaptive optics can correct these aberrations, but traditional systems are costly and complex, which has kept them in high-end research setups.
The extension
The extension fits between the camera port and the sensor of a commercial microscope, so the microscope itself stays unmodified. It combines two elements: a Deformable Phase Plate for in-line correction of high-order aberrations, and a tunable lens for fast, remote axial focusing. Aberration correction works without a wavefront sensor, through sensorless, image-based wavefront estimation, and the presentation shows robust performance across wide imaging fields.
Reference: P. Rajaeipour, F. Büchele, S. Klykov, L. Fixl, S. Schierle, Ç. Ataman, S. M. Weber, "An adaptive optics extension for commercial microscopes for high-order aberration correction with integrated remote focusing/axial scanning capability," Proc. SPIE PC13860, Adaptive Optics and Wavefront Control for Biological Systems XII, PC138600B (2026), conference presentation. doi.org/10.1117/12.3080498
Product details, specifications and downloads are on the PHI page.
