'An adaptive optics module for deep tissue multiphoton imaging in vivo' is published in Nature Methods.
Rodriguez et al. (2021) reports the latest implementation of multiphoton adaptive optics from the Ji lab, using their zonal AO strategy and a fast segmented tip-tilt-piston deformable mirror instead of a liquid crystal spatial light modulator. The deformable mirror overcomes some of the disadvantages of the spatial light modulator, allowing faster correction across a wider range of wavelengths and higher energy, briefer pulses.
One result is a simpler and more robust correction when imaging dynamic indicators such as GCaMP, but more significant is the combination of zonal AO to 3-photon excitation. the results are spectacular with the brightness of cortical and hippocampal somata increasing, typically, 5- to 10-fold and dendrites were up to 30 times brighter after aberration correction. These numbers vastly exceed the improvements achieved (in other papers) with zonal aberration correction, underlining the advantages of local aberration correction with a zonal AO strategy in 3-photon microscopy.