Apparatus, system, and method for fluorescence imaging with stray light reduction

A system for fluorescence imaging of a scene, comprising:

• a light source to provide a first illumination of the scene, wherein during the first illumination the light source is configured to emit an excitation wavelength to induce fluorescence from the scene;
• an image sensor to capture a fluorescence image of the scene during the first illumination, wherein the fluorescence image includes a plurality of pixels, each pixel having at least a first color channel value and a second color channel value;
• and
• a controller coupled to the light source, the image sensor, and memory, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the controller causes the system to perform operations including:
• comparing the first color channel value to the second color channel value of a given pixel for each of the plurality of pixels to identify one or more pixels included in the plurality of pixels of the fluorescence image as being affected by stray light;
• and
• generating a stray light image mask based, at least in part, on the one or more pixels of the fluorescence image identified as being affected by the stray light.