title: Fast phase reconstruction in white light diffraction phase microscopy.
abstract: In off-axis interferometry, we usually have to deal with the unwrapping process, which is very computationally intensive and prevents us from real time phase reconstruction. The wrapping problem usually occurs when imaging thick objects, which introduce phase shifts of more than 2π radians. However, in off-axis interferometry, the nonzero angle of interference of the two beams creates a ramp in the phase across the image that can produce phase wrapping errors. In this paper, we propose a simple technique that avoids the need for the unwrapping step in reconstructing quantitative phase images in white light diffraction phase microscopy of thin samples. We show that this approach can improve significantly the phase reconstruction speed and allow high impact applications, such as real-time blood testing.
authors.affiliation: Quantitative Light Imaging Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Hoa V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Lynford L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Popescu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008029:Lighting / Q000379:methods*; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity