Plenoptic microscopy and photography from intensity correlations

TL;DR

This paper introduces novel correlation-based plenoptic imaging methods that achieve diffraction-limited resolution, enabling refocusing, depth-of-field enhancement, and 3D imaging with improved robustness and potential for compact device design.

Contribution

It adapts correlation plenoptic imaging to microscopy, enhancing robustness and combining high resolution with extended depth of field in a novel way.

Findings

Achieved diffraction-limited plenoptic imaging using intensity correlations.

Demonstrated improved robustness against turbulence in microscopy.

Proposed methods enable compact, high-resolution 3D imaging devices.

Abstract

We present novel methods to perform plenoptic imaging at the diffraction limit by measuring intensity correlations of light. The first method is oriented towards plenoptic microscopy, a promising technique which allows refocusing and depth-of-field enhancement, in post-processing, as well as scanning free 3D imaging. To overcome the limitations of standard plenoptic microscopes, we propose an adaptation of Correlation Plenoptic Imaging (CPI) to the working conditions of microscopy. We consider and compare different architectures of CPI microscopes, and discuss the improved robustness with respect to previous protocols against turbulence around the sample. The second method is based on measuring correlations between the images of two reference planes, arbitrarily chosen within the tridimensional scene of interest, providing an unprecedented combination of image resolution and depth of field. The results lead the way towards the realization of compact designs for CPI devices.