Hilbert phase microscopy based on pseudo thermal illumination in the Linnik configuration

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Biomedical Imaging
• Microscopy

Background:

• Quantitative phase microscopy (QPM) typically relies on interference patterns and phase demodulation.
• Existing QPM methods face challenges with noise and resolution limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce Pseudo Hilbert Phase Microscopy (PHPM) for enhanced single-shot coherent QPM.
• To achieve improved noise robustness and resolution through a hybrid hardware-software approach.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing pseudo thermal light source illumination.
• Implementing Hilbert spiral transform (HST) for phase demodulation.
• Combining physical alteration of laser spatial coherence with numerical restoration of spatial frequencies.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated capabilities using calibrated phase targets and live HeLa cells.
• Compared PHPM performance against traditional laser illumination with temporal phase shifting (TPS) and Fourier transform (FT) techniques.
• Verified PHPM's ability to combine single-shot imaging, noise minimization, and phase detail preservation.

Conclusions:

• PHPM offers a novel approach to QPM with significant advantages.
• The method successfully enhances resolution and minimizes noise in phase imaging.
• PHPM is effective for analyzing biological samples like live cells.