Quantitative phase and refractive index measurements with point-source digital in-line holographic microscopy

Point-source digital in-line holographic microscopy with numerical reconstruction is ideally suited for quantitative phase measurements to determine optical path lengths and to extract changes in refractive index within accuracy close to 0.001 on the submicrometer length scale. This is demonstrated with simulated holograms and with detailed measurements on a number of different micrometer-sized samples such as suspended drops, optical fibers, as well as organisms of biological interest such as E. coli bacteria, HeLa cells, and fibroblast cells.