Weijuan Qu

High-speed transport-of-intensity phase microscopy with an electrically tunable lens

We present a high-speed transport-of-intensity equation (TIE) quantitative phase microscopy technique, named TL-TIE, by combining an electrically tunable lens with a conventional transmission microscope. This permits the specimen at different focus position to be imaged in rapid succession, with constant magnification and no physically moving parts. The simplified image stack collection significantly reduces the acquisition time, allows for the diffraction-limited through-focus intensity stack collection at 15 frames per second, making dynamic TIE phase imaging possible. The technique is demonstrated by profiling of microlens array using optimal frequency selection scheme, and time-lapse imaging of live breast cancer cells by inversion the defocused phase optical transfer function to correct the phase blurring in traditional TIE. Experimental results illustrate its outstanding capability of the technique for quantitative phase imaging, through a simple, non-interferometric, high-speed, high-resolution, and unwrapping-free approach with prosperous applications in micro-optics, life sciences and bio-photonics.

Noninterferometric single-shot quantitative phase microscopy

We present a noninterferometric single-shot quantitative phase microscopy technique with the use of the transport of intensity equation (TIE). The optical configuration is based on a Michelson-like architecture attached to a nonmodified inverted transmission bright field microscope. Two laterally separated images from different focal planes can be obtained simultaneously by a single camera exposure, enabling the TIE phase recovery to be performed at frame rates that are only camera limited. Precise measurement of a microlens array validates the principle and demonstrates the accuracy of the method. Investigations of chemical-induced apoptosis and the phagocytosis process of macrophages are then presented, suggesting that the method developed can provide promising applications in the dynamic study of cellular processes.

Quasi-physical phase compensation in digital holographic microscopy

In digital holographic microscopy, if an optical setup is well aligned, the phase curvature introduced by the microscope objective (MO) together with the illuminating wave to the object wave is a spherical phase curvature. It can be physically compensated by introducing the same spherical phase curvature in the reference beam. Digital holographic microscopy setups based on the Michelson interferometric configuration with MO and an adjustable lens are presented, which can well perform the quasi-physical phase compensation during the hologram recording. In the reflection mode, the adjustable lens serves as both the condensing lens and the compensation lens. When the spatial frequency spectra of the hologram become a point spectrum, one can see that the phase curvature introduced by imaging is quasi-physically compensated. A simple plane numerical reference wavefront used for the reconstruction can give the correct quantitative phase map of the test object. A theoretical analysis and experimental demonstration are given. The simplicity of the presented setup makes it easy to align it well at lower cost.

Phase aberration compensation in digital holographic microscopy based on principal component analysis

We present an effective, fast, and straightforward phase aberration compensation method in digital holographic microscopy based on principal component analysis. The proposed method decomposes the phase map into a set of values of uncorrelated variables called principal components, and then extracts the aberration terms from the first principal component obtained. It is effective, fully automatic, and does not require any prior knowledge of the object and the setup. The great performance and limited computational complexity make our approach a very attractive and promising technique for compensating phase aberration in digital holography under time-critical environments.

Transmission digital holographic microscopy based on a beam-splitter cube interferometer

A new optical configuration for digital holographic microscopy is presented. Digital off-axis holograms are recorded by use of a single cube beam splitter in a nonconventional configuration to both split and combine a diverging spherical wavefront as it emerges from a single point source. Both the amplitude and the phase can then be reconstructed, yielding intensity and phase images with improved resolution. The novelty of the proposed configuration is its simplicity, minimal number of optical elements, insensitivity to vibration, and its inherent capability to compensate for the phase curvature that results from the illuminating wavefront in the case of microscopic samples.

Boundary-artifact-free phase retrieval with the transport of intensity equation II: applications to microlens characterization.

Boundary conditions play a crucial role in the solution of the transport of intensity equation (TIE). If not appropriately handled, they can create significant boundary artifacts across the reconstruction result. In a previous paper [Opt. Express 22, 9220 (2014)], we presented a new boundary-artifact-free TIE phase retrieval method with use of discrete cosine transform (DCT). Here we report its experimental investigations with applications to the micro-optics characterization. The experimental setup is based on a tunable lens based 4f system attached to a non-modified inverted bright-field microscope. We establish inhomogeneous Neumann boundary values by placing a rectangular aperture in the intermediate image plane of the microscope. Then the boundary values are applied to solve the TIE with our DCT-based TIE solver. Experimental results on microlenses highlight the importance of boundary conditions that often overlooked in simplified models, and confirm that our approach effectively avoid the boundary error even when objects are located at the image borders. It is further demonstrated that our technique is non-interferometric, accurate, fast, full-field, and flexible, rendering it a promising metrological tool for the micro-optics inspection.

Characterization and inspection of microlens array by single cube beam splitter microscopy.

The application of a single cube beam splitter (SCBS) microscope to micro-optics characterization is presented. The SCBS in the optical path, with a small angle between the optical axis and its central semireflecting layer, not only gives off-axis digital holograms but also provides dual-channel imaging. It is a unique and easy way to perform uniformity inspection across the entire microlens array. Experimental results on physical spherical phase compensation, single lens characterization, dual-channel imaging, and uniformity inspection are provided to demonstrate the unique properties of SCBS microscopy.

Close-range photogrammetry with light field camera: from disparity map to absolute distance

A new approach to measure the 3D profile of a texture object is proposed utilizing light field imaging, in which three key steps are required: a disparity map is first obtained by detecting the slopes in the epipolar plane image with the multilabel technique; the intrinsic parameters of the light field camera are then extracted by camera calibration; at last, the relationship between disparity values and real distances is built up by depth calibration. In the last step, a linear calibration method is proposed to achieve accurate results. Furthermore, the depth error is also investigated and compensated for by reusing the checkerboard pattern. The experimental results are in good agreement with the 3D models, and also indicate that the light field imaging is a promising 3D measurement technique.

Quantitative measurement of thermal lensing in diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser by use of digital holographic interferometry

Thermal lensing in diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser has been measured quantitatively using digital holographic interferometry. A series of holograms, carrying the information of the laser rod under different pump currents, are recorded with a CCD and reconstructed numerically. The optical path difference induced by the thermal lensing and the corresponding evolution process under different currents are obtained accordingly. Further, the thermal lensing diopters, induced aberrations, and its Zernike coefficients are calculated. The proposed method can be applied in the thermal lensing measurement and the optimization design of a laser resonator.

Phase retrieval with the transport-of-intensity equation in an arbitrarily shaped aperture by iterative discrete cosine transforms

A transport-of-intensity equation (TIE)-based phase retrieval method is proposed with putting an arbitrarily shaped aperture into the optical wavefield. In this arbitrarily shaped aperture, the TIE can be solved under nonuniform illuminations and even nonhomogeneous boundary conditions by iterative discrete cosine transforms with a phase compensation mechanism. Simulation with arbitrary phase, arbitrary aperture shape, and nonuniform intensity distribution verifies the effective compensation and high accuracy of the proposed method. Experiment is also carried out to check the feasibility of the proposed method in real measurement. Comparing to the existing methods, the proposed method is applicable for any types of phase distribution under nonuniform illumination and nonhomogeneous boundary conditions within an arbitrarily shaped aperture, which enables the technique of TIE with hard aperture to become a more flexible phase retrieval tool in practical measurements.