Single shot full-field reflection phase microscopy
First Claim
1. A system for off axis reflection phase imaging of a material comprising:
- a light source;
a material to be imaged that is positioned to receive illuminating light from the light source;
an optical system that optically couples illuminating light from the light source through a first lens onto the material, the optical system coupling reference light from the light source along a reference optical path wherein the reference optical path has a diffraction element that diffracts reflected light from a reflector such that a selected diffraction order of reference light from the light source is coupled to an imaging lens;
an imaging detector that detects reflected light through the first lens from the material in response to the illuminating light and wherein the imaging detector detects the diffracted order of reflected reference light from the imaging lens that interferes with the light reflected from the material, the reflected reference light being tilted at an angle relative to the light reflected from the material that is incident on the imaging detector and such that an optical path length measured from a plurality of different points on the diffraction element to a corresponding pixel of the imaging detector is constant;
a moveable translation stage to selectively position a coherence gate relative to the material such that the reflected light from a portion of the material within the coherence gate is detected by the imaging detector; and
a data processor that processes full frame off-axis reflection phase interferograms detected by the imaging detector to generate a phase image of the portion of the material within the coherence gate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a full-field reflection phase microscope. In a preferred embodiment, the invention can combine low-coherence interferometry and off-axis digital holographic microscopy (DHM). The reflection-based DHM provides highly sensitive and a single-shot imaging of cellular dynamics while the use of low coherence source provides a depth-selective measurement. A preferred embodiment of the system uses a diffraction grating in the reference arm to generate an interference image of uniform contrast over the entire field-of-view albeit low-coherence light source. With improved path-length sensitivity, the present invention is suitable for full-field measurement of membrane dynamics in live cells with sub-nanometer-scale sensitivity.
24 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A system for off axis reflection phase imaging of a material comprising:
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a light source; a material to be imaged that is positioned to receive illuminating light from the light source; an optical system that optically couples illuminating light from the light source through a first lens onto the material, the optical system coupling reference light from the light source along a reference optical path wherein the reference optical path has a diffraction element that diffracts reflected light from a reflector such that a selected diffraction order of reference light from the light source is coupled to an imaging lens; an imaging detector that detects reflected light through the first lens from the material in response to the illuminating light and wherein the imaging detector detects the diffracted order of reflected reference light from the imaging lens that interferes with the light reflected from the material, the reflected reference light being tilted at an angle relative to the light reflected from the material that is incident on the imaging detector and such that an optical path length measured from a plurality of different points on the diffraction element to a corresponding pixel of the imaging detector is constant; a moveable translation stage to selectively position a coherence gate relative to the material such that the reflected light from a portion of the material within the coherence gate is detected by the imaging detector; and a data processor that processes full frame off-axis reflection phase interferograms detected by the imaging detector to generate a phase image of the portion of the material within the coherence gate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for off axis reflection phase microscopy comprising:
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delivering light from a low coherence light source through a first lens onto a portion of a material to be measured that is positioned within a coherence gate along a first light path optically coupled to the light source, the material being positioned over a reflecting surface that is mounted on a moveable translation stage; delivering light through a second lens onto a reflecting reference that is optically coupled to the light source; separating a diffraction order of light received through the second lens from the reflecting reference; and detecting light with an imaging detector, the detected light including reflected light from within the coherence gate positioned on the portion of the material wherein the reflected light from the material is directed through the first lens and along a first axis and the separated diffraction order of light directed along a second axis that is tilted at a different angle relative to the first axis to form an interference pattern at the imaging detector that generates a full field off-axis quantitative phase image of the material in the coherence gate. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A system for off-axis reflection phase microscopy comprising:
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a low coherence light source; a sample to be measured that is positioned over a reflective surface and along a first light path optically coupled to the light source such that light is delivered onto the sample through a lens, the reflective surface being mounted on a translation stage; a reference reflector positioned on a reference light path, the reference reflector being optically coupled to the light source at a fixed distance; an optical system that selects a diffraction order of light reflected by the reference reflector; and an imaging detector that detects reflected light passing through the lens from the sample and the selected diffraction order of light from the reference reflector, the light from the sample being incident on the imaging detector and also being tilted at a different angle than the light received from the reference reflector at the imaging detector such that full frame off-axis reflection phase interferograms are generated. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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Specification