Polarization and Spectral Interferometric Techniques for Quantitative Phase Microscopy - Biomedical Optical Phase Microscopy and Nanoscopy - page 271

CHAPTER 14
Polarization and Spectral Interferometric
Techniques for Quantitative Phase
Microscopy

Yizheng Zhu 1 , Matthew T. Rinehart 1 , Francisco E. Robles 1,2 , and Adam Wax 1
1

Department of Biomedical Engineering

2

Medical Physics and the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics,
Duke University, Durham, NC

Editor: Natan T. Shaked

14.1 Introduction

Imaging the internal structure of biological cells is an essential component of many clinical
and laboratory investigations. Histopathology, the main method for clinical diagnosis of
disease, relies on scoring altered cell structure by studying fixed, stained, and sectioned
cells using a light microscope. In the laboratory, examination of structural changes with this
approach reveals the origins of disease as well as mechanisms that govern cellular function.
Unfortunately, this widely used method has a number of limitations.

Investigations that are based on the analysis of histological samples must contend with the
artifacts that arise due to sample preparation. Fixatives, staining agents, and cell sectioning
alter the structure of the cells in nontrivial ways. In addition, such analysis can only glimpse a
snapshot in the life of an individual cell, relying on the study of large ensembles of cells to
develop a picture of their temporal evolution. Quantitative phase-imaging techniques offer an
alternative to these approaches for studying the structure of living cells in situ, by providing a
highly sensitive, noninvasive means of measuring cellular structure. In addition, since optical
imaging does not perturb the structure or function of cells, techniques based on phase
imaging permit investigation of the development, formation, and function of cellular
structures through examination of the properties of the same cells over time.

As presented in Part 2 of the topic, there have been many recent efforts to develop
techniques for measuring the structure and dynamics of cells and subcellular components