Question

''Discuss the Nyquist criterion and explain the consequences of over and under sampling when acquiring images in a laser scanning confocal microscope''.

. Please answer well so I can understand cause im not good at this topic. thank you

Answer 1

The Nyquist Criterion states that the sampling rate of a particular signal should be greater than or equal to 2 times the frequency of that particular signal. This criterion is important while dealing with systems where we convert the signals from analog to digital for further processing. If the signal is undersampled, ie the rate of sampling is less than the criterion, then the signal properties will not be carried forward once it is converted to a digital signal, and if the signal is oversampled, ie. the signal is sampled at a significantly higher rate as compared to the Nyquist criterion.

Now in the above-given problem for the Laser scanning confocal microscope, if the signals are undersampled then the image features will not be reproduced properly (ie. there will be a loss of signal information). And if the signals are oversampled then it leads to the introduction of more noise as compared to sampling at lower rates, this will lead to bad image quality.