A new holographic microscope allows scientists to see through the skull and image the brain: The new label-free deep-tissue imaging with the wave correction algorithm retrieves the fine neural network of the mouse brain with the intact skull by focusing the light and filtering out undesired multiple scattered light waves

In order to scrutinize the internal features of a living organism using light, it is necessary to A) deliver sufficient light energy to the sample and B) accurately measure the signal reflected from the target tissue. However, in living tissues multiple scattering effects and severe aberration1 tend to occur when light hits the cells, which makes it difficult to obtain sharp images. In complex structures such as living tissue, light undergoes multiple scattering, which causes the photons to randomly change their direction several times as they travel through the tissue. Because of this process, much of the image information carried by the light becomes ruined. However, even if it is a very small amount of reflected light, it is possible to observe the features located relatively deep within the tissues by correcting the wavefront2 distortion of the light that was reflected from the target to be observed. However, the above-mentioned multiple scattering effects interfere with this correction process.