Image formation by linear and nonlinear digital scanned light-sheet fluorescence microscopy with Gaussian and Bessel beam profiles

We present the implementation of a combined digital scanned light-sheet microscope (DSLM) able to work in the linear and nonlinear regimes under either Gaussian or Bessel beam excitation schemes. A complete characterization of the setup is performed and a comparison of the performance of each DSLM imaging modality is presented using in vivo Caenorhabditis elegans samples. We found that the use of Bessel beam nonlinear excitation results in better image contrast over a wider field of view. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America