Spatially multiplexed interferometric microscopy with partially coherent illumination
Abstract. We have recently reported on a simple, low cost, and highly stable way to convert a standard microscope into a holographic one [Opt. Express 22, 14929 (2014) The method, named spatially multiplexed interferometric microscopy (SMIM) proposes an off axis holographic architecture implemented onto a regular (nonholographic) microscope with minimum modifications: the use of coherent illumination and a properly placed and selected one dimensional diffraction grating. In this contribution, we report on the implementation of partially (temporally reduced) coherent illumination in SMIM as a way to improve quantitative phase imaging. The use of low coherence sources forces the application of phase shifting algorithm instead of off axis holographic recording to recover the sample's phase information but improves phase reconstruction due to coherence noise reduction. In addition, a less restrictive field of view limitation (1/2) is implemented in comparison with our previously reported scheme (1/3) The proposed modification is experimentally validated in a regular Olympus BX 60 upright microscope considering a wide range of samples (resolution test, microbeads, swine sperm cells, red blood cells, and prostate cancer cells)
Journal of biomedical optics