The present invention relates to an inline scanning holography system for a phosphor and a transmitter. According to the present invention, the inline scanning holography system includes a polarization sensitive lens that receives a linearly polarized beam and generates a first spherical wave of right-handed circular polarized light having a negative focal length and a second spherical wave of left-handed circular polarized light having a positive focal length, a polarizer that passes only a beam component in a predetermined polarization direction therethrough among components of the generated first and second spherical waves, a scanning unit for scanning a phosphor by using an interference beam generated between the first and second spherical waves passing through the polarizer, and a first photodetector that detects a fluorescent beam diverged from the phosphor. According to the present invention, a high-efficiency and high-quality optical scanning holography for a phosphor or a transmitter may be implemented.

A method for characterizing a particle present in a sample, the sample lying between an image sensor and a light source and the sensor lying in a detection plane, includes illuminating the sample with the light source which emits an incident light wave propagating along a propagation axis, and acquiring an image of the sample with the sensor. The sensor is exposed to an exposure light wave. The image includes a plurality of elementary diffraction patterns each corresponding to one particle. The method also includes reconstructing a complex image representative of a complex amplitude of the light wave on a reconstruction surface passing through the sample, based on the acquired image; selecting a region of interest of the complex image corresponding to a particle of interest; forming an extracted image based on the region of interest; and characterizing the particle of interest depending on the extracted region of interest.

A manufacturing method of an optical element applied to a miniature microscope includes the steps of: emitting a signal light and a reference light to an optical material; and forming a plurality of gratings on the optical material by interfering the signal light and the reference light. A miniature microscope is also disclosed.

A method for identifying a particle contained in a sample, including illuminating the sample using a light source, the light source producing an incident light wave propagating toward the sample, then acquiring, using a matrix-array photodetector, an image of the sample, the sample being placed between the light source and the photodetector such that the matrix-array photodetector is exposed to a light wave that is the result of interference between the incident light wave and a diffraction wave produced by each particle. The method further includes applying a numerical reconstruction algorithm to the image acquired by the photodetector, to estimate a characteristic quantity of the light wave reaching the detector, at a plurality of distances from the detector. The variation in the characteristic quantity as a function of distance allows the particle to be identified.

A method for the label-free sizing of small, nanometer-sized objects such as particles includes a hand-held, portable holographic microscope that incorporates vapor condensation of nanolenses and time-resolved lens-free imaging. The portable device is used to generate reconstructed, time-resolved, and automatically-focused phase images of the sample field-of-view. The peak phase value for each object a function of working distance (z.sub.2) and condensation time (t) is used to measure object size. The sizing accuracy has been quantified in both monodisperse and heterogeneous particle solutions, achieving an accuracy of +/11 nm for particles that range from 40 nm up to 500 nm. For larger particles, the technique still works while the accuracy roughly scales with particle size.

Embodiments described herein relate to lens-free imaging. One example embodiment may include a lens-free imaging device for imaging a moving sample. The lens-free imaging device may include a radiation source configured to emit a set of at least two different wavelengths towards the moving sample. The lens-free imaging device is configured to image samples for which a spectral response does not substantially vary for a set of at least two different wavelengths. The lens-free imaging device may also include a line scanner configured to obtain a line scan per wavelength emitted by the radiation source and reflected by, scattered by, or transmitted through the moving sample. The line scanner is configured to regularly obtain a line scan per wavelength. Either the radiation source or the line scanner is configured to isolate data of the at least two different wavelengths.

Apparatus and methods for coherent diffractive imaging with arbitrary angle of illumination incidence utilize a method of fast remapping of a detected diffraction intensity pattern from a detector pixel array (initial grid) to a uniform spatial frequency grid (final grid) chosen to allow for FFT on the remapped pattern. This is accomplished by remapping the initial grid to an intermediate grid chosen to result in a final grid that is linear in spatial frequency. The initial grid is remapped (generally by interpolation) to the intermediate grid that is calculated to correspond to the final grid. In general, the initial grid (x,y) is uniform in space, the intermediate grid ({tilde over (x)},{tilde over (y)}) is non-uniform in spatial frequency, and the final grid ({tilde over (f)}.sub.x,{tilde over (f)}.sub.y) is uniform in spatial frequency.

A new optical arrangement that creates high efficiency, high quality Fresnel Incoherent Correlation Holography (FINCH) holograms using transmission liquid crystal GRIN (TLCGRIN) diffractive lenses has been invented. This is in contrast to the universal practice in the field of using a reflective spatial light modulator (SLM) to separate sample and reference beams. Polarization sensitive TLCGRIN lenses enable a straight optical path, have 95% transmission efficiency, are analog devices without pixels and are free of many limitations of reflective SLM devices. An additional advantage is that they create an incoherent holographic system that is achromatic over a wide bandwidth. Two spherical beams created by the combination of a glass and a polarization sensitive TLCGRIN lenses interfere and a hologram is recorded by a digital camera. FINCH configurations which increase signal to noise ratios and imaging speed are also described.

Method and system for lensless, shadow optical imaging. Formation of a hologram shadow image having higher spatial resolution and lower noise level is accomplished by processing image information contained in multiple individual hologram shadow image frames acquired either under conditions of relative shift between point light source and the detector of the system or under stationary conditions, when system remains fixed in space and is devoid of any relative movement during the process of acquisition of individual image frames.

The invention relates to a device for observing a sample, including: a light source able to emit an incident light wave that propagates towards a holder able to receive the sample; and an image sensor able to detect a light wave transmitted by the sample when the latter is placed between the light source and the image sensor.

The device is characterized in that the light source includes a light-emitting diode that is what is called micron-sized, a light-emission surface of which has a diameter or a largest diagonal smaller than 500 m.

The invention also relates to a method for observing a sample using such a device.