Mobile-phone-based Rheinberg microscope with a light-emitting diode array

Mobile phone technology has led to implementation of portable and inexpensive microscopes. Light-emitting diode (LED) array microscopes support various multicontrast imaging by flexible illumination patterns of the LED array that can be achieved without changing the optical components of the microscope. Here, we demonstrate a mobile-phone-based LED array microscope to realize multimodal imaging with bright-field, dark-field, differential phase-contrast, and Rheinberg illuminations using as few as 37 LED bulbs. Using this microscope, we obtained high-contrast images of living cells. Furthermore, by changing the color combinations of Rheinberg illumination, we were able to obtain images of living chromatic structures with enhanced or diminished contrast. This technique is expected to be a foundation for high-contrast microscopy used in modern field studies.