Image formation and analysis of coherent microscopy and beyond - toward better imaging and phase recovery

Applications of phase microscopy based on either coherent or partially coherent sources are widely distributed in today's biological and biomedical research laboratories. But the quantitative phase information derivable from these techniques is often not fully understood, because in general, no universal theoretical model can be set up, and each of the techniques has to be treated specifically. This chapter is dedicated to the fundamental understanding of the methodologies that derive optical phase information using imaging techniques and microscopic instrumentation. Several of the latest and most significant techniques are thoroughly studied through the theoretical formalism of the optical transfer function. In particular, we classify these systems into two main categories: those based on coherent illumination, such as digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and its extension into tomography, and those based on partially coherent illumination, such as differential interference contrast (DIC) and differential phase contrast (DPC). Our intention is that the models described in this chapter give an insight into the behaviour of these phase imaging techniques, so that better instrumentation can be designed and improved phase retrieval algorithms can be devised.