Development of single-channel optical video stereomicroscopy

This study introduces a single-channel optical video stereomicroscope based on a transparent rotating deflector (TRD) for high-resolution and high-magnification stereomicroscopy. The existing stereomicroscopes have some limitations, such as limited resolution and magnification, fixed optical channel, and the necessity to use higher quality and higher cost optical channel components compared with the conventional optical microscopes. The goal of this study was to develop a method for improved stereo imaging and stereovision for optical microscopy. Here, we demonstrate the generation of stereo video images of left and right pairs by the refraction of light passing through a motorized TRD. We estimated the corresponding rotation angles for human stereovision and the required torque. In addition, we evaluated the image quality stability under the TRD rotation.