EPI-ILLUMINATION DIFFRACTION PHASE MICROSCOPY WITH WHITE LIGHT

C. Edwards,1,2 B. Bhaduri,2 B. G. Griffin,1 L. L. Goddard,1 and G. Popescu2,*
OPTICS LETTERS, Vol. 39, No. 21 2014

We demonstrate the first reflection-based epi-illumination diffraction phase microscope with white light (epi-wDPM). The epi-wDPM system combines the off-axis, common-path, and white light approaches, in a reflection geometry enabling sub-nanometer spatial and temporal noise levels, while providing single-shot acquisition for opaque samples. We verified the epi-wDPM results by measuring control samples with known dimensions and comparing them to measurements from other well-established techniques. We imaged gold-coated HeLa cells to illustrate the tradeoffs between epi-wDPM with low and high spatial coherence.