K-domain transform based three-dimensional microscopy

A K-domain transform based three-dimensional microscopy technique is proposed. By illuminating an object with a light sheet along the optical axis and recording the complex amplitude, including the modulus and the phase (or wave-front) of the reflected light in the epi-direction, the structure of the illuminated slice of the specimen can be clearly reconstructed by transforming the reflected light from the vertical plane to the axial plane. While the principle of this proposed technique is theoretically illustrated, its feasibility is verified both numerically and experimentally. Because the illuminating and collecting optics comprise a coaxial imaging system, the proposed technique can achieve high-speed and high-resolution three-dimensional imaging with a simple optical setup, which can be realized using a common commercial microscope with only slight modification. Published by AIP Publishing.