Spatially multiplexed interferometric microscopy with partially coherent illumination

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).