Phase imaging by spatial wavefront sampling

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel phase imaging method that combines wavefront sampling with a reconfigurable spatial light modulator and a beam position detector, enabling robust, reference-less, and lensless imaging with potential for rapid acquisition via compressive sensing.

Contribution

It presents a new phase imaging technique that integrates wavefront sampling and spatial light modulation, eliminating the need for phase unwrapping and lenslet arrays.

Findings

Achieves phase imaging without phase unwrapping algorithms.

Removes tradeoffs associated with Shack-Hartmann sensors.

Capable of rapid imaging through compressive sensing.

Abstract

Phase imaging techniques extract the optical path-length information of a scene, whereas wavefront sensors provide the shape of an optical wavefront. Since these two applications have different technical requirements, they have developed their own specific technology. Here we show how to perform phase imaging combining wavefront sampling using a reconfigurable spatial light modulator with a beam position detector. The result is a time-multiplexed detection scheme, capable of being shortened considerably by compressive sensing. This robust reference-less method does not require the phase unwrapping algorithms demanded by conventional interferometry, and its lenslet-free nature removes tradeoffs usually found in Shack-Hartmann sensors.