Large Depth-of-Field Integral Microscopy by Use of a Liquid Lens

Integral microscopy is a 3D imaging technique that permits the recording of spatial and angular information of microscopic samples. From this information it is possible to calculate a collection of orthographic views with full parallax and to refocus computationally, at will, through the 3D specimen. An important drawback of integral microscopy, especially when dealing with thick samples, is the limited depth of field (DOF) of the perspective views. This imposes a significant limitation on the depth range of computationally refocused images. To overcome this problem, we propose here a new method that is based on the insertion, at the pupil plane of the microscope objective, of an electrically controlled liquid lens (LL) whose optical power can be changed by simply tuning the voltage. This new apparatus has the advantage of controlling the axial position of the objective focal plane while keeping constant the essential parameters of the integral microscope, that is, the magnification, the numerical aperture and the amount of parallax. Thus, given a 3D sample, the new microscope can provide a stack of integral images with complementary depth ranges. The fusion of the set of refocused images permits to enlarge the reconstruction range, obtaining images in focus over the whole region.