Volumetric multi-modal microscopy methods and systems

Apparatus for imaging tissue, the apparatus comprising:

• a laser light source operative to emit a beam of light;
• an objective arranged to receive and focus the beam of light to a focus point;
• a scanner unit in an optical path between the laser light source and the objective, the scanner unit operative to redirect the beam of light and thereby cause the focus point to scan in an x direction;
• a z-axis scanner operative to move the objective in a z direction parallel to an optical axis of the objective,
• a first light detector arranged to receive light returning through the objective from the focus point and to generate an output signal representing an intensity of the light returning,
• a tissue stabilizing mechanism coupled to the objective by way of a movable stage operative to move tissue relative to the objective in a y direction that is transverse relative to the x direction,
• a controller configured to generate coordinated driving signals for the scanner unit and the z-axis scanner to cause the focus point to be raster scanned in an xz plane and control signals for the movable stage to cause the focus point to be scanned in the y direction,
• a frame grabber operative to monitor the output signal in coordination with the raster scanning of the focus point to build a first series of xz image frames, and
• a data processor connected to receive the xz image frames and configured to process the xz image frames to provide volumetric image data for a volume scanned by the focus point.