Comprehensive tool for a phase compensation reconstruction method in digital holographic microscopy operating in...

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) via Digital Holographic microscopy (DHM) has been widely applied in material and biological applications. The performance of DHM technologies relies heavily on computational reconstruction methods to provide accurate phase measurements. Among the optical configuration of the imaging system in DHM, imaging systems operating in a non-telecentric regime are the most common ones. Nonetheless, the spherical wavefront introduced by the non-telecentric DHM system must be compensated to provide undistorted phase measurements. The proposed reconstruction approach is based on previous work from Kemper's group. Here, we have reformulated the problem, reducing the number of required parameters needed for reconstructing phase images to the sensor pixel size and source wavelength. The developed computational algorithm can be divided into six main steps. In the first step, the selection of the +1-diffraction order in the hologram spectrum. The interference angle is obtained from the selected +1 order. Secondly, the curvature of the spherical wavefront distorting the sample's phase map is estimated by analyzing the size of the selected +1 order in the hologram's spectrum. The third and fourth steps are the spatial filtering of the +1 order and the compensation of the interference angle. The next step involves the estimation of the center of the spherical wavefront. An optional final optimization step has been included to fine-tune the estimated parameters and provide fully compensated phase images. Because the proper implementation of a framework is critical to achieve successful results, we have explicitly described the steps, including functions and toolboxes, required for reconstructing phase images without distortions. As a result, we have provided open-access codes and a user interface tool with minimum user input to reconstruct holograms recorded in a non-telecentric DHM system.