Quantitative and Dynamic Phase Imaging of Biological Cells by the Use of the Digital Holographic Microscopy Based on a Beam Displacer Unit

The digital holographic microscopy can be used for the quantitative and dynamic phase imaging of biological cells, which has a very wide application in the fields of biological and medical sciences. To make the measurement system simple, compact, and low-cost, a common-path configuration based on a beam displacer unit is introduced in the digital holographic microscopy. The simple optical structure and common-path design reduces the system requirement for the light source coherence, realizes the convenient adjustment of the object and reference beams and achieves an excellent system temporal stability of 0.53 nm. The living mouse osteoblastic cells during mitotic phase are quantitatively measured to demonstrate the capability and applicability of the system.