title: Simultaneous characterization of the shape and refractive index of transparent living cells by an optical aperture.
abstract: We report a method of using optical aperture diffraction to simultaneously detect the image and the refractive index of a living cell. By simulation, it is found that, when a suitable gap is introduced between the cell and the aperture, the image of the cell on the detection plane can be amplified hundreds to thousands of times, and a limit of detection of 3e-4 to 9e-5 can be reached for the refractive index of the cell. Experiments show that this method is feasible to realize, but the achievement of such a detection system is yet to be proved.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 3 Research Link, Singapore 117602. donna‑zhou@imre.a‑star.edu.sg
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Kai Yu
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008846:Micromanipulation; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012031:Refractometry