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Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Quantifying Microorganisms at Low Concentrations Using Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM)
Published on: November 1, 2017
Dark-field digital holographic microscopy to investigate objects that are nanosized or smaller than the optical
Frank Dubois1, Patrick Grosfils
1Université Libre de Bruxelles, Microgravity Research Center, Brussels, Belgium. frdubouis@ulb.ac.be
Abstract:
We describe a transmission dark-field digital holographic microscope based on a Mach-Zehnder configuration for the detection of nanosize objects or objects smaller than the optical resolution limit. An optical stop adequately placed in the object beam removes the nondiffracted beam while keeping the light scattered by the object. This configuration combines an improved detection of objects smaller than the optical resolution with the refocusing capability yielded by digital holography. A theoretical analysis and an experimental demonstration are provided.
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