Dynamic phase-contrast microscopy of living cells by digital holography

A digital holographic approach for dynamic phase-contrast microscopy of living cells was proposed. Fiber optic devices and individual optical components were adopted to set up a pre-magnified off-axis digital holographic imaging system. An infinity-corrected microscope objective was utilized to improve lateral resolution. Phase aberrations were compensated by using curvature matching lens and digital phase mask. The proposed method was used to investigate living samples of mouse osteocytes, whose movements and variations were indicated by phase-contrast images. The experimental results prove the feasibility of the proposed method.