Compact in-line lensfree digital holographic microscope

Phase imaging provides intensity contrast to visualize transparent samples such as found in biology without any staining. Among them, digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is a well-known quantitative phase method. Lensfree implementations of DHMs offer the added advantage to provide large field of views (several mm(2) compared to several hundred μm(2)) and more compact setups that traditional DHM which have high quality microscope objectives. In this article, a lensfree DHM is presented using a side illumination technique in order to further reduce the device size. Its practical use is described and results on a transparent (phase only) sample are shown.