Superresolution digital holographic microscopy for three-dimensional samples

An approach that allows superresolution imaging of three-dimensional (3-D) samples by numerical refocusing is presented in the field of digital holographic microscopy. Based on the object's spectrum shift produced by tilted illumination, we present a time multiplexing superresolved approach to overcome the Abbe's diffraction limit. The proposed approach uses a microscope in a Mach-Zehnder interferometric architecture with the particularity that the output plane does not coincide with the image plane. Thus, a set of off-axis non-image plane holograms are sequentially recorded for every tilted beam used in the illumination stage. After that and by using simple digital post-processing and numerical reconstruction, a 3-D superresolved sample volume is reconstructed slice-by- slice in terms of the definition of a synthetic aperture (SA) that expands the cutoff frequency of the microscope lens. Experimental results showing the capabilities of the proposed approach are presented.

Full field of view super-resolution imaging based on two static gratings and white light illumination

The usage of two static gratings for obtaining super-resolved imaging dates back to the work by Bachl and Lukosz in 1967. However, in their approach a severe reduction in the field of view was the necessary condition for improving the resolution. We present an approach based on two static gratings without sacrificing the field of view. The key idea for not paying with the field of view is to use white light illumination to average the ghost images obtained outside the region of interest since the positions of those images are wavelength dependent. Moreover, large magnification is achieved by using a commercial microscope objective instead of a test system with a unity magnification as presented in previous works. Because of the large magnification, the second grating has a low spatial period. This allows us to create an intermediate image and use a second imaging lens with low resolution capability while still obtaining an imaging quality as good as that provided by the first imaging lens. This is an important improvement in comparison with the original super-resolving method with two fixed gratings.

Transversal superresolution with noncontact axial movement of periodic structures

We present an innovative approach that allows superresolved images to be obtained by axial moving of two gratings and time integrating in the detector plane. The two gratings do not have to be in contact with either the object or the detector, and both are positioned between the object and the image planes. One of the main applications for the proposed approach in contrast to previously discussed time multiplexing superresolving methods is that it may fit well to superresolved imaging of remote objects, since both gratings are not in contact with either the object or the detector planes.

Spatial information transmission using axial temporal coherence coding

We present an approach that can be used for transmission of information through space-limited systems or for superresolution. The spatial information is coded with different axial temporal coherence by interfering every spatial region in the input with the same region, but with a certain known delay in the longitudinal axis. Every spatial region has different delay. After mixing all of the spatial information, it is transmitted through the space-limited system. At the detection the information is passed through a similar interference setup containing certain axial delay. By temporally scanning along the longitudinal axis, each time a different spatial region that was coded with the corresponding axial delay is reconstructed. To allow coding of different spatial regions with different and small axial delays, we use a thermal light source that has very short coherence length. We include experimental validation of the presented approach.