Wide-field common-path incoherent correlation microscopy with a perfect overlapping of interfering beams

Incoherent correlation microscopy is recently discovered technique for digital imaging of three-dimensional objects in a quasi-monochromatic spatially incoherent light. Its operation is based on wavefront division carried out by a spatial light modulator and capturing correlation recordings of the observed scene. To achieve image reconstruction, at least a partial overlapping of the signal and reference waves created by the spatial light modulator is necessary. In the known experimental configurations, the overlapping of interfering beams is strongly reduced in off-axis areas of the object and the image can be reconstructed only in a very small portion of the field of view provided by the used microscope objective lens. Here, we propose and successfully demonstrate modified experimental system working with two-component relay optics inserted between the microscope objective and the spatial light modulator and providing full overlapping of correlated beams in all areas of the field of view of the objective lens. The benefits and applicability of the proposed system design are clearly demonstrated on the imaging of the USAF resolution targets. [DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2971/jeos.2013.13011]