Single-image phase retrieval for off-the-shelf Zernike phase-contrast microscopes.

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Optical Microscopy
• Life Sciences

Background:

• Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) offers noninvasive visualization without labels.
• Current QPI systems (e.g., digital holography) are limited by cost and complexity.
• Zernike Phase-Contrast Microscopy (ZPM) is accessible but suffers from artifacts and weak phase imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a single-image phase retrieval method for ZPM.
• To enable QPI capabilities in standard ZPM systems without hardware modification.
• To overcome limitations of ZPM, such as artifacts and weak phase conditions.

Main Methods:

• Employed a rigorous physical model of ZPM.
• Utilized a gradient descent algorithm for phase retrieval.
• Achieved single-shot QPI from a single ZPM image.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated QPI of polymer microbeads and biological cells using off-the-shelf ZPM.
• Validated the quantitative accuracy of the method against digital holography.
• Showcased the potential for transforming conventional ZPM into a QPI system.

Conclusions:

• A novel single-image phase retrieval method enables QPI with standard ZPM.
• This approach overcomes hardware cost and complexity barriers for QPI.
• The technique offers a pathway to enhance biological imaging capabilities using existing microscopy infrastructure.