Optomechatronics for Biomedical Optical Imaging: An Overview

The use of optomechatronic technology, particularly in biomedical optical imaging, is becoming pronounced and ever increasing due to its synergistic effect of the integration of optics and mechatronics. The background of this trend is that the biomedical optical imaging for example in-vivo imaging related to retraction of tissues, diagnosis, and surgical operations have a variety of challenges due to complexity in internal structure and properties of biological body and the resulting optical phenomena. This paper addresses the technical issues related to tissue imaging, visualization of interior surfaces of organs, laparoscopic and endoscopic imaging and imaging of neuronal activities and structures. Within such problem domains the paper overviews the states of the art technology focused on how optical components are fused together with those of mechatronics to create the functionalities required for the imaging systems. Future perspective of the optical imaging in biomedical field is presented in short.