Optical Phase Microscopy: Quantitative Imaging and Conventional Phase Analogs

Experienced microscopists are familiar with the process of slightly defocusing the microscope to visualize (edge) structure within transparent samples. This is a method of phase contrast imaging. We present a method of quantitative optical phase microscopy that quantifies this phase contrast effect. Starting with conventional, digital, bright field images of the sample, our non-recursive algorithm provides quantitative phase information that is completely decoupled from the bright field intensity image. This independent phase and intensity information is then used to emulate a range of conventional experimental phase visualization modalities.