Quantitative Phase Imaging: Principles and Applications

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is an emerging label-free imaging approach. QPI measures the optical phase delay associated with the object, and the resulting image provides an objective measure of morphology and dynamics, in the absence of contrast agents. As tremendous advances have been made in the past one–two decades, the QPI field continues expanding and gaining popularity. It has found applications in many different fields, especially in biomedicine. In this chapter, we provide a review of the principles associated with this exciting field, with discussion focused on optical physics, experimental principles, and applications.