Interferometric microscopy or imaging interferometric microscopy is the concept of microscopy which
is related to
holography
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
,
synthetic-aperture imaging, and
off-axis-dark-field illumination techniques.
Interferometric microscopy allows enhancement of resolution of
optical microscopy
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
due to interferometric (
holographic
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
)
registration of several partial images (amplitude and phase) and the numerical combining.
Combining of partial images
In interferometric microscopy, the image of a micro-object is synthesized numerically as a coherent combination
of partial images with registered amplitude and phase.
For registration of partial images, a conventional
holographic
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
set-up is used with a reference wave, as is usual in optical
holography
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
. Capturing multiple exposures allows the numerical emulation of a large
numerical aperture objective from images obtained with an objective lens with smaller-value numerical aperture.
Similar techniques allows scanning and precise detection of small particles.
[
]
As the combined image keeps both amplitude and phase information, the interferometric microscopy can be especially efficient for the phase objects,
allowing detection of light variations of index of refraction, which cause the phase shift or the light passing through for a small fraction of a radian.
Non-optical waves
Although the Interferometric microscopy has been demonstrated only for optical images (visible light), this technique may find application in high resolution
atom optics Atom optics (or atomic optics) is the area of physics which deals with beams of cold, slowly moving neutral atoms, as a special case of a particle beam.
Like an optical beam, the atomic beam may exhibit diffraction and interference, and can be focu ...
, or optics of
neutral atom beams (see
Atomic de Broglie microscope), where the Numerical aperture is usually very limited
.
See also
*
Digital holographic microscopy
Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is digital holography applied to microscopy. Digital holographic microscopy distinguishes itself from other microscopy methods by not recording the projected image of the object. Instead, the light wave fron ...
*
Holography
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
*
Numerical Aperture
*
Raman microscope
The Raman microscope is a laser-based microscopic device used to perform Raman spectroscopy.''Microscopical techniques in the use of the molecular optics laser examiner Raman microprobe'', by M. E. Andersen, R. Z. Muggli, Analytical Chemistry, 19 ...
*
Diffraction limited
The resolution of an optical imaging system a microscope, telescope, or camera can be limited by factors such as imperfections in the lenses or misalignment. However, there is a principal limit to the resolution of any optical system, due to t ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Interferometric Microscopy
Microscopy
Interferometry
Atomic, molecular, and optical physics
Holography