Light-sheet microscopy: a tutorial

This paper is intended to give a comprehensive review of light-sheet (LS) microscopy fromanopticsperspective.Assuch,emphasisisplacedontheadvantagesthatLSmicroscope configurations present, given the degree of freedom gained by uncoupling the excitation and detection arms. The new imaging properties are first highlighted in terms ofopticalparametersandhowthesehaveenabledseveralbiomedicalapplications.Then, the basics are presentedfor understandinghow a LS microscopeworks. This is followed by a presentation of a tutorial for LS microscope designs, each working at different resolutions and for different applications. Then, based on a numerical Fourier analysis and given the multiple possibilities for generating the LS in the microscope (using Gaussian, Bessel, and Airy beams in the linear and nonlinear regimes), a systematic comparison of their optical performance is presented. Finally, based on advances in optics and photonics, the novel optical implementations possible in a LS microscope are highlighted.