Wavefront imaging with low coherence illumination simplifies the optical diffraction tomography setup and improves...

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Biomedical Imaging
• Microscopy

Background:

• Conventional Digital Holographic (DH) interferometry for Optical Diffraction Tomography (ODT) requires a reference beam and is sensitive to phase wrapping, leading to artifacts and complex signal processing.
• Speckle noise, arising from coherent light sources, can degrade the quality of ODT reconstructions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate the use of Quadriwave Lateral Shearing Interferometry (QLSI) for ODT reconstructions.
• To demonstrate the advantages of QLSI, including reference-beam-free operation, incoherent source compatibility, and reduced phase-wrapping sensitivity, for improved ODT performance.

Main Methods:

• Wavefront imaging using Quadriwave Lateral Shearing Interferometry (QLSI).
• Angle-scan diffraction tomography.
• Reconstruction of 3D refractive index (3DRI) using QLSI-based ODT.

Main Results:

• QLSI-based ODT successfully reconstructed the 3DRI of a polystyrene bead.
• Demonstrated 3DRI reconstruction of a nano-printed phantom cell.
• Presented 3DRI reconstruction of a living yeast cell, showcasing the method's applicability to biological samples.

Conclusions:

• QLSI is a robust and advantageous wavefront sensing technique for ODT.
• The proposed QLSI-ODT method simplifies the imaging process and enhances reconstruction quality by mitigating common artifacts.
• This technique holds potential for advanced cellular imaging and analysis.