Low-coherent optical diffraction tomography by angle-scanning illumination (Conference Presentation)

In coherent imaging systems, parasitic fringes and concentric patterns could commonly be found due to the unwanted multiple reflections [1]. One fundamental solution for the coherent noise is to use a temporally incoherent light source. However, maintaining the full-field interference fringe contrast using temporally incoherent light is not straightforward for interferometric imaging techniques such as quantitative phase imaging (QPI). Fortunately, several brilliant incoherent QPI techniques have been realized for wide-field imaging mainly through the common-path interferometer geometries [2-4]. However, it has been more difficult to implement incoherent-light-based optical diffraction tomography (ODT) due to the additional angle-scanning illumination unit that induces severe decoherence over the camera field-of-view [5]. Here, we suggest a temporally low-coherence optical diffraction tomography by angle-scanning broadband illumination based on general Mach-Zehnder interferometric geometry. We have designed an angle-scanning unit composed of two digital micromirror devices (DMDs) to maintain interference fringe contrast across the whole field of view during the angle-scanning sequence. Further, we have developed the theoretical framework for ODT reconstruction using incoherent light. In the light of our recent developments, we will discuss the theoretical and practical constraints, and suggest the best degree of incoherency for incoherent ODT. We will also demonstrate the incoherent optical diffraction tomography of plastic microspheres, human blood cells and rat pheochromocytoma cells. References 1. I. Choi, K. Lee, and Y. Park, "Compensation of aberration in quantitative phase imaging using lateral shifting and spiral phase integration," Opt. Express 25, 30771-30779 (2017). 2. Z. Wang, L. Millet, M. Mir, H. Ding, S. Unarunotai, J. Rogers, M. U. Gillette, and G. Popescu, "Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM)," Opt. Express 19, 1016-1026 (2011). 3. B. Bhaduri, H. Pham, M. Mir, and G. Popescu, "Diffraction phase microscopy with white light," Opt. Lett. 37, 1094-1096 (2012). 4. Y. Baek, K. Lee, J. Yoon, K. Kim, and Y. Park, "White-light quantitative phase imaging unit," Opt. Express 24, 9308-9315 (2016). 5. M. Rinehart, Y. Zhu, and A. Wax, "Quantitative phase spectroscopy," Biomed. Opt. Express 3, 958-965 (2012).