Optical-sectioned fluorescent imaging by dynamic mask projection and dark-channel dehazing

Defocused background is the major source degrading the quality of wide-field fluorescence imaging. Here, we report an optical sectioning method based on the characteristics of background fluorescence under two complementary illumination patterns and dark-channel dehazing. The method is physically interpretable, deconvolution-free, and easy to implement on all epi-fluorescence microscopes. Three-dimensional imaging of mitochondria, mouse liver neuronal tissue, and zebrafish blood vessels demonstrates its superior 3D imaging capability for thick samples with high fidelity and a large field of view.