Physical compensation of phase curvature in digital holographic microscopy by use of programmable liquid lens

Quantitative phase measurements obtained with digital holographic microscopes are strongly dependent on the optical arrangement of the imaging system. The nontelecentric operation provides phase measurements affected by a parabolic phase factor and requires numerical postprocessing, which does not always remove all the perturbation. Accurate phase measurements are achieved by using the imaging system in telecentric mode. Unfortunately, this condition is not accomplished when a commercial microscope is used as the imaging system. In this paper, we present an approach for obtaining accurate phase measurements in nontelecentric imaging systems without the need for numerical postprocessing. The method uses an electrically tunable liquid lens to illuminate the sample so that the perturbing parabolic wavefront is cancelled out. Experimental holograms of a Fresnel lens and a section of the thorax of a Drosophila melanogaster fly are captured to verify the proposed method.