In a new paper (doi: https://www.light-am.com/en/article/doi/10.37188/lam.2024.006 ) published in Light: Advanced Manufacturing, international teams of authors, invited by Arash Darafsheh from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, joined together to provide a comprehensive review on microsphere-assisted quantitative phase microscopy, the integration of microspheres with coherence scanning interference and digital holographic microscopies, while discussing the associated open questions, challenges, and opportunities.
Microsphere-assisted microscopy is a versatile technique that can be extended to coherence scanning interference and digital holographic microscopies to achieve 3D imaging with improved resolution. Microsphere-assisted interference microscopy offers a cost-effective and non-destructive high-speed single-shot imaging method for 3D surface metrology, and microsphere-assisted digital holographic microscopy provides a real-time method for high-contrast quantitative phase imaging in both transmission and reflection modes. Furthermore, quantitative phase microscopy arrangements improved by microspheres have the flexibility to be integrated with other methodologies, such as structured illumination and oblique illumination, to achieve further enhancements in resolution or other adjustments.
There is ample room for research in microsphere-assisted microscopy as discussed in this review. From the theoretical viewpoint, a comprehensive 3D model to describe the whole imaging system, including the illumination, microsphere, objective lens, 3D sample and its substrate, and imaging sensor would be of great interest to completely understand the resolution enhancement mechanism of microsphere-assisted microscopy. Besides a better understanding, full models help to further improve the resolution by optimizing system parameters. However, such models require an extremely large computational effort and hence cannot be implemented on current conventional computers. From the experimental point-of-view, implementation of microsphere-assisted microscopy in some scenarios may not be very straightforward; for example, the field-of-view is small and the speed for investigating larger areas may not be high. Overcoming these issues would bring new possibilities for the future of microsphere-assisted microscopy.
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https://www.light-am.com/en/article/doi/10.37188/lam.2024.006
About Light: Advanced Manufacturing (LAM)
Light: Advanced Manufacturing (LAM) is a new, highly selective, open-access, and free of charge international sister journal of the Nature Journal Light: Science & Applications. The journal aims to publish innovative research in all modern areas of preferred light-based manufacturing, including fundamental and applied research as well as industrial innovations.