PyQPI: Open source python']python framework for the reconstruction of off-axis quantitative phase imaging

As videography in quantitative phase imaging is becoming common, it is desirable to have a live stream reconstruction platform that can adapt to different optical configurations without user input. Fourier domain reconstruction of phase map from single interfermetric image is suitable, but conventional reconstruction implementations are slow and require the user to manually specify various parameters such as Fourier peak and window to be used for reconstruction. We present an open-source phase reconstruction tool with an intuitive simple user interface, high computation efficiency to support live stream reconstruction, and option to perform automatic phase reconstruction in off-axis quantitative phase microscopy. It also removes any background curvature and unwraps the phase to retrieve high quality phase stream directly from the off-axis interferometric images being recorded by the microscope's camera. The proposed framework could be useful for real-time phase reconstruction to continuously monitor dynamic biological processes, such as cell migration, division, and other applications in general.