Biomedical Imaging

Preface

Images have always played a major role in biomedical studies, from the ‘evidence of our own eyes’, through the first demonstration of cellular structure by Hook using the newly discovered optical microscope, to the possibilities of looking inside intact systems afforded by the discovery of X-rays at the end of the nineteenth century, and the plethora of advanced imaging techniques of the twentieth century. This progress has gathered pace in the last few decades as scientists and engineers have refined their imaging techniques to improve resolution and contrast.

For most imaging techniques, there is a limit to the spatial resolution that can be achieved. For example, for conventional optical imaging it is the wavelength of light; for ...