Compact in-line lensfree digital holographic microscope.

Phase imaging provides intensity contrast to visualize transparent samples such as found in biology without any staining. Among them, digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is a well-known quantitative phase method. Lensfree implementations of DHMs offer the added advantage to provide large field of views (several mm2 compared to several hundred μm2 ) and more compact setups that traditional DHM which have high quality microscope objectives. In this article, a lensfree DHM is presented using a side illumination technique in order to further reduce the device size. Its practical use is described and results on a transparent (phase only) sample are shown.