Fast Fourier ptychographic microscopy based on annular illumination and parallel acquisition

Area of Science:

• Computational optical imaging
• Super-resolution microscopy
• Quantitative phase imaging

Background:

• Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM) offers large field-of-view, high-resolution imaging without precision optics.
• Conventional FPM demands extensive raw image acquisition, limiting imaging efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a quantitative phase imaging method that drastically reduces data acquisition requirements for FPM.
• To enhance the imaging efficiency of FPM for faster reconstruction and potential real-time applications.

Main Methods:

• A novel illumination scheme combining bright-field annular-matched and dark-field parallel-coded illumination was proposed.
• The method integrates single LED activation (bright-field) and parallel LED activation (dark-field) based on parallel-coding illumination theory.
• Data acquisition was significantly reduced compared to traditional FPM.

Main Results:

• The combined FPM method achieved fast quantitative phase imaging using only eight raw images.
• A resolution three times the coherent diffraction limit was realized.
• Imaging efficiency improved by 50% over traditional annular downsampling, requiring only 3.5% of conventional FPM data.

Conclusions:

• The proposed efficient FPM method substantially accelerates raw data acquisition and high-resolution image reconstruction.
• This technique enables real-time dynamic imaging of living cells.
• The method enhances FPM's practicality for biological and materials science applications.