Some embodiments are directed to a technique having an off-axis interferometric geometry that is capable of spatially multiplexing at least six complex wavefronts, while using the same number of camera pixels typically needed for a single off-axis hologram encoding a single complex wavefront. Each of the at least six parallel complex wavefronts is encoded into an off-axis hologram with a different fringe orientation, and all complex wavefronts can be fully reconstructed. This technique is especially useful for highly dynamic samples, as it allows the acquisition of at least six complex wavefronts simultaneously, optimizing the amount of information that can be acquired in a single camera exposure. The off-axis multiplexing holographic system of some embodiments provide an off-axis holography modality that is more camera spatial bandwidth efficient than on-axis holography. Moreover, the off-axis interferometric system allows simple simultaneous acquisition of at least six holographic channels, making it attractive for imaging dynamics.

Object interference in biological samples generated by lateral shearing interference microscopes is addressed by a shearing microscope slide comprising a periodic structure having alternating reference and sample regions. In some embodiments, the reference regions are configured to provide references that remove sample overlap in a sheared microscopic measurement. A system for generating sheared microscopic measurements is also provided that comprises an inlet configured to receive a sample material, an outlet configured to release a portion of the sample material, and a periodic structure having a plurality of interleaved reference and sample channels. In some cases, the sample channels are configured to accommodate a flow of sample material from the inlet to the outlet and the reference channels are configured to provide references that remove sample overlap in a sheared microscopic measurement.

An optical method of characterizing an object comprises providing an object to be characterized, the object having at least one nanoscale feature; illuminating the object with coherent plane wave optical radiation having a wavelength larger than the nanoscale feature; capturing a diffraction intensity pattern of the radiation which is scattered by the object; supplying the diffraction intensity pattern to a neural network trained with a training set of diffraction intensity patterns corresponding to other objects with a same nanoscale feature as the object to be characterized, the neural network configured to recover information about the object from the diffraction intensity pattern; and making a characterization of the object based on the recovered information.

A totagram is produced by an iterative spectral phase recovery process resulting in complete information recovery using special masks, without a reference beam. Using these special masking systems reduce computation time, number of masks, and number of iterations. The special masking system is (1) a unity mask together with one or more bipolar binary masks with elements equal to 1 and −1, or (2) a unity mask together with one or more phase masks, or (3) a unity mask together with one pair of masks or more than one pair of masks having binary amplitudes of 0's and 1's, in which the masks in the pair are complementary to each other with respect to amplitude, or (4) one or more pairs of complementary masks with binary amplitudes of 0's and 1's without a unity mask.

An apparatus and method are introduced to produce a hologram of an object from electromagnetic radiation, such as incoherent light, received from the object. The electromagnetic radiation is received by a receiving assembly and transformed into a plurality of co-linear co-propagating beams with different focal distances. The interference of the plurality of beams is enabled by projecting components of each beam along a common polarization direction. The interference patterns thus formed are recorded and then processed to form the hologram of the object.

A method comprising determining a quantitative dispersion image of an object based on a set of quantitative phase images, each quantitative phase image of the set of quantitative phase images having been obtained with a respective different illumination light wavelength.

In various embodiments a module for generating an interference pattern for producing a digital holographic image is provided. The module comprises an adaptive lens arrangement configured to receive, from a microscope, an object wave of an intermediate image of a sample to be examined, and to generate an adapted object wave of the intermediate image of the sample by reducing a curvature of the object wave of the intermediate image; a reference input interface configured to receive an optical fiber delivering a reference wave from the coherent light source to the module and an interference arrangement configured to generate an interference pattern to be received by an imaging sensor arrangement, wherein the interference pattern is based on the adapted object wave and the reference wave from a coherent light source; wherein a position of the reference input interface of the module is configured to be adjustable with respect to at least two directions (x-y), wherein at least one of the adjustable directions is in parallel to a propagation direction of the reference wave leaving the optical fiber.

A single-shot Fresnel non-coherent correlation digital holographic device based on a polarization-oriented planar lens, comprising: A polarization-oriented planar lens (1) for wavefront modulation and beam splitting, a focusing element (2), a half-wave plate (3) with a small hole and a polarization imaging camera (4). Incident light passes through the polarization-oriented planar lens (1) and the focusing element (2) and is divided into two beams with different polarizations, that is, focused and parallel or focused and divergent beams, wherein the focused beam passes through the small hole of the half-wave plate (3), the parallel or divergent beam passes through the half-wave plate (3), so as to make the polarization of the two beams consistent behind pass through the half-wave plate (3).

An image-sensing device includes photoelectric elements for receiving incident light. The photoelectric elements are arranged into unit cells, and each of the unit cells includes a first, a second, a third and a fourth photoelectric element. The first, the second, the third and the fourth photoelectric elements in each of the unit cells are formed of pillar structures, and the first, the second, the third and the fourth photoelectric elements are different sizes. The first photoelectric element captures a first image in a first phase, the second photoelectric element captures a second image in a second phase, the third photoelectric element captures a third image in a third phase, and the fourth photoelectric element captures a fourth image in a fourth phase. The first phase, the second phase, the third phase, and the fourth phase are different.

Some embodiments are directed to a technique having an off-axis interferometric geometry that is capable of spatially multiplexing at least six complex wavefronts, while using the same number of camera pixels typically needed for a single off-axis hologram encoding a single complex wavefront. Each of the at least six parallel complex wavefronts is encoded into an off-axis hologram with a different fringe orientation, and all complex wavefronts can be fully reconstructed. This technique is especially useful for highly dynamic samples, as it allows the acquisition of at least six complex wavefronts simultaneously, optimizing the amount of information that can be acquired in a single camera exposure. The off-axis multiplexing holographic system of some embodiments provide an off-axis holography modality that is more camera spatial bandwidth efficient than on-axis holography. Moreover, the off-axis interferometric system allows simple simultaneous acquisition of at least six holographic channels, making it attractive for imaging dynamics.