When an optical system is illuminated with illumination light fluxes emitted from respective input image points, an interference image generated by superimposing output light fluxes output from the optical system and a reference light flux coherent with the output light fluxes is imaged to acquire interference image data collectively including information of an interference image about all input image points. Diffractive optical light propagation simulation is performed to acquire a phase distribution associated with only light emitted from a single input image point at a position where reconstructed light fluxes to the respective output light fluxes are separated into each light flux. In each input image point, this simulation is performed to acquire a phase distribution on an exit pupil plane.

In situ investigation of microbial life in extreme environments can be carried out with microscopes capable of imaging 3-dimensional volumes and tracking particle motion. A lensless digital holographic microscope is disclosed that provides roughly 1.5 micron resolution in a compact, robust package suitable for remote deployment. High resolution is achieved by generating high numerical-aperture input beams with radial gradient-index rod lenses. The ability to detect and track prokaryotes was explored using bacterial strains of two different sizes. In the larger strain, a variety of motions were seen, while the smaller strain was used to demonstrate a detection capability down to micron scales.

The present invention relates to an improved method for marker-free detection of a cell type of at least one cell in a medium using microfluidics and digital holographic microscopy, as well as a device, particular for carrying out the method.

The present invention provides an ellipsometry device and an ellipsometry method whereby measurement efficiency can be enhanced. In this method, an object is illuminated by spherical-wave-like illumination light Q linearly polarized at 45 (S1), and an object light O, being a reflected light, is acquired in a hologram I.sub.OR using a spherical-wave-like reference light R having a condensing point near the condensing point of the illumination light Q, and a hologram I.sub.LR of the reference light R is furthermore acquired using a spherical-wave reference light L having the same condensing point as that of the illumination light Q (S2). The holograms are separated into p- and s-polarized light holograms I.sup.K.sub.OR, I.sup.K.sub.LR, =p, s and processed to extract object light waves, and object light spatial frequency spectra G.sup.K(u, v), =p, s are generated (S3) (S4). Ellipsometric angles (), () are obtained for each incident angle from the amplitude reflection coefficient ratio =G.sup.p/G.sup.s=tan .Math.exp(i). Through use of numerous lights having different incident angles included in the illumination light Q, data of numerous reflection lights can be acquired collectively in a hologram and can be processed.

Provided are on-axis and off-axis digital hologram generating device and method.

The on-axis and off-axis digital hologram generating device includes an object phase generator configured to access a phase file of an object stored in a storage device and generate object phase information from the phase file of the object; a digital object light generator configured to generate digital object light information based on a light property of object light input by a user and the object phase information generated by the object phase generator; a digital reference light generator configured to generate digital reference light information based on a light property of reference light input by the user; and a digital hologram generator configured to generate a digital hologram based on hologram property information input by the user, the digital object light information generated by the digital object light generator, and the digital reference light information generated by the digital reference light generator.

This disclosure discloses a method of creating a three-dimensional image of a sample using snapshot optical tomography. The method includes generating a plurality of beams incident on the sample simultaneously, acquiring a field image at a plane not conjugate to the sample plane using off-axis digital holography, extracting amplitude data and phase data for the field image, restoring the sharpness by backpropagating the field image using the extracted amplitude and phase data, acquiring a background image, extracting amplitude data and phase data for the background image, and reconstructing a three-dimensional image of the sample with the backpropagated field image and the background image. The method also includes arranging more than one imaging chains to remove the missing angle artefacts in optical tomography. Also disclosed are systems for performing the method.

Systems and methods for a camera system for imaging a diffuse medium such as mammalian tissue are provided herein. In one example, a camera system includes a light source configured to emit light, a first beam splitter positioned to split the emitted light into a reference beam and a transmission beam; an aperture though which the transmission beam traverses en route to an object, and where an object beam formed from light reflected off the object is configured to travel back through the aperture, a concave lens, a convex lens, a second beam splitter positioned intermediate the concave lens and the convex lens, and a detector. The detector is configured to receive at least a portion of the object beam and a portion of the reference beam to capture an image of an interference between the reference beam and the object beam.

A digital holographic apparatus includes a first hologram generating unit that generates a first hologram by causing first object light in a first observation direction to interfere with first reference light, the first object light being generated by irradiating an observation object with light having a first wavelength, the first reference light being derived from the light having the first wavelength; a second hologram generating unit that generates a second hologram by causing second object light in a second observation direction that differs from the first observation direction to interfere with second reference light, the second object light being generated by irradiating the observation object with light having a second wavelength, the second reference light being derived from the light having the second wavelength; a first image capturing unit that captures the first hologram; and a second image capturing unit that captures the second hologram.

Techniques to improve image quality in holography utilizing lenses made from materials with non-quantized anisotropic electromagnetic properties, such as birefringent materials, to advantageously split an incoming beam of light into two coincident beams with different focal lengths that interfere with one another and thus create holograms free of electro-optical or pixelated devices are disclosed. Corresponding systems, methods and apparatuses are described.

A method for digital holographic microtomography comprises (a) providing at least one wavefront controlling device for driving a sample to be rotated and/or an incident beam scanning the sample, (b) utilizing a digital holographic access unit for recording the transmitted or reflected wavefronts of the sample, (c) utilizing a digital holography reconstructing method for reconstructing the transmitted or reflected wavefronts of the sample, and (d) utilizing a tomographic reconstruction approach for reconstructing three dimensional image information of the sample.