An imaging technique generates an image from the measured quantities of a real object. The measured quantity or a quantity derived from it is displayed with spatial resolution, e.g. via brightness values or colours. Imaging techniques are used in a wide variety of fields, from biomedical research and medical diagnostics to materials testing, remote sensing, and exploration of the Earth’s interior. Length scales range from the smallest scales in particle physics to the largest ones in astronomy.
The measured quantity used for image generation determines which property of the object is displayed. Examples of measured quantities are light or electromagnetic radiation in general (e.g. X-rays or radar), force, current strength/voltage, magnetic field strength and ultrasound or elastic waves in general. Many imaging techniques have in common the need for signal processing in order to create a 2D or 3D image of the real object from measured values. Depending on the method, inversion methods can also be used for object reconstruction, see e.g. tomography.
Several of our patent attorneys have practical experience with various imaging techniques and are therefore able to advise you with the necessary expertise. This applies in particular to optical imaging methods (e.g. fluorescence microscopy in biomedical research), imaging methods, and inversion methods in materials testing, geophysics and medical diagnostics, see also medical technology.
