White-light Quantitative Phase Imaging Unit

TL;DR

The paper presents a compact, easy-to-use white-light quantitative phase imaging unit (WQPIU) that enables standard microscopes to perform quantitative phase imaging without modifications, expanding biological imaging capabilities.

Contribution

Introduction of the WQPIU as a practical, cost-effective, and user-friendly device for quantitative phase imaging on standard microscopes.

Findings

Successfully measured phase images of various biological samples.

Demonstrated speckle-free imaging with white-light illumination.

Validated the device's accuracy and usability.

Abstract

We introduce the white light quantitative phase imaging unit (WQPIU) as a practical realization of quantitative phase imaging (QPI) on standard microscope platforms. The WQPIU is a compact stand-alone unit which measures sample induced phase delay under white-light illumination. It does not require any modification of the microscope or additional accessories for its use. The principle of the WQPIU based on lateral shearing interferometry and phase shifting interferometry provides a cost-effective and user-friendly use of QPI. The validity and capacity of the presented method are demonstrated by measuring quantitative phase images of polystyrene beads, human red blood cells, HeLa cells and mouse white blood cells. With speckle-free imaging capability due to the use of white-light illumination, the WQPIU is expected to expand the scope of QPI in biological sciences as a powerful but simple imaging tool.