Simple implementation of aperture modulation quantitative differential phase contrast imaging

As one of the quantitative phase imaging methods, aperture modulation quantitative differential phase contrast (amqDPC) imaging has isotropic lateral resolution, being widely used in many fields such as biological cell morphology detection. However, the devices required to implement it are poorly controlled and very expensive. In addition, due to the weak phase approximation, there is a large axial phase error, and the full spectrum center pass during aperture modulation will cause distortion. Therefore, a method that enables simple and low-cost implementation of amqDPC, high axial phase accuracy, and isotopic lateral resolution is reported. Through simulations and experimental verifications, axial accuracy is greatly improved in the phase range of [0, pi], and an isotropic lateral resolution of 870 nm can be achieved. In addition, experiments on transparent glass circular step sample and mouse kidney tissue slice also prove the practicability of this method. According to this study, researchers can accurately and simply measure the axial height of a slightly thick sample, which is achieved by capturing two intensity images to reconstruct a quantitative phase.