Reconfigurable phase contrast microscopy with correlated photon pairs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel reconfigurable phase contrast microscopy method utilizing correlated photon pairs, enabling flexible, post-acquisition control of illumination angles for enhanced imaging without mechanical adjustments.

Contribution

It presents a new microscopy technique that leverages photon correlations for versatile, reconfigurable phase contrast imaging with no moving parts.

Findings

Demonstrated asymmetric illumination imaging

Achieved differential phase contrast imaging

Enabled post-production control of illumination angles

Abstract

A phase-sensitive microscopy technique is proposed and demonstrated that employs the momentum correlations inherent in spontaneous parametric down-conversion. One photon from a correlated pair is focused onto a microscopic target while the other is measured in the Fourier plane. This provides knowledge of the position and angle of illumination for every photon striking the target, allowing full post-production control of the illumination angle used to form an image. The versatility of this approach is showcased with asymmetric illumination and differential phase contrast imaging, without any beam blocks or moving parts.