Light origami multi-beam interference digital holographic microscope for live cell imaging

In the field of scientific, industrial, and biological research, digital holographic microscopy (DHM) has established itself as a potential optical instrument due to its three-dimensional (3D) imaging capabilities and non-destructive nature. Like any imaging system, the field-of-view (FoV) of DHM is constrained by the image sensor's finite size. To address this challenge, in the present study, we propose the Light Origami Multi-Beam Interference (LOMBI)-DHM technique for live cell imaging that leverages single-shot acquisition and double FoV. The concept of the proposed study to extend the FoV is based on the optical spatial multiplexing of two distinct regions of the object beam by introducing a cube beam splitter in the path of the object beam. The beam splitter is angled so that it produces two object beams with different object information that are propagating in the same direction and collected within the area of the image sensor. The image sensor records a multiplexed digital hologram in a single-shot as a result of the interference of three beams: two object beams with different FoVs and one reference beam. The two distinct imaging regions corresponding to the two recorded FoVs, can be simultaneously retrieved during the reconstruction process. The experimental results of imaging different areas of a standard resolution target, microlens array, and living plant cells, are shown to demonstrate the capability of the proposed single-shot off-axis double FoV LOMBI-DHM. Furthermore, we dynamically monitor the time-lapse live-cell imaging of tobacco plant cells by the proposed system.