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Analogous on‐axis interference topographic phase microscopy (AOITPM)
Author(s) -
XIU P.,
LIU Q.,
ZHOU X.,
XU Y.,
KUANG C.,
LIU X.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/jmi.12677
Subject(s) - optics , resolution (logic) , interference (communication) , phase (matter) , numerical aperture , interference microscopy , microscopy , lens (geology) , sample (material) , phase contrast imaging , materials science , refractive index , image resolution , physics , phase contrast microscopy , computer science , artificial intelligence , telecommunications , wavelength , channel (broadcasting) , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
Summary The refractive index (RI) of a sample as an endogenous contrast agent plays an important role in transparent live cell imaging. In tomographic phase microscopy (TPM), 3D quantitative RI maps can be reconstructed based on the measured projections of the RI in multiple directions. The resolution of the RI maps not only depends on the numerical aperture of the employed objective lens, but also is determined by the accuracy of the quantitative phase of the sample measured at multiple scanning illumination angles. This paper reports an analogous on‐axis interference TPM, where the interference angle between the sample and reference beams is kept constant for projections in multiple directions to improve the accuracy of the phase maps and the resolution of RI tomograms. The system has been validated with both silica beads and red blood cells. Compared with conventional TPM, the proposed system acquires quantitative RI maps with higher resolution (420 nm @λ = 633 nm) and signal‐to‐noise ratio that can be beneficial for live cell imaging in biomedical applications.