Analysis of Absorption and Phase Difference Images from Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

Abstract

Abstract. Extraction of phase and amplitude information in differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy is a challenging but stimulating task. In this paper, a simple straightforward non-iterative method to extract the absorption and phase difference images for DIC is presented. According to the method proposed in [1], phase information can be acquired straightforwardly. The feasibility of our method is confirmed by experimental results of imaging liquid paraffin drops using a commercial DIC microscope. Compared with the available methods and previous research [1][2][3][4], our approach simplifies the procedures to extract the absorption and phase difference images without weak absorption limit.

Common characteristics shared by different differential phase contrast imaging methods

“…Then the DEI method was generalized into the differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy by our group [11]. Figure 5 is the schematic of the microscopy setup, and Fig.…”

“…In 1997, Chapman et al [3] proposed a quantitative method to extract phase information. Since that time, a number of differential phase contrast imaging methods have been developed, such as differential interference contrast microscopy [1,2], diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) [3,4], grating interferometer-based imaging [5][6][7], coded aperture-based imaging [8] or noninterferometric grating-based imaging [9], and differential phase contrast x-ray microscopy [10,11]. Although these imaging methods are very different in configurations, they share a common imaging principle by extracting differential phase information through evaluating the refraction angles.…”