Structured light dark-field microscope

Abstract

A resolution-enhanced dark-field microscope by structured light illumination is proposed to improve resolution and contrast. A set of phase-shifted fringes are projected to the sample plane at large angle to capture modulated dark-field images, from which resolution- and contrast-enhanced dark-field image, as well as sectioned dark-field image, can be obtained. Human tissue samples are tested to demonstrate the resolution and contrast enhancement. The system can be implemented in transmission-mode and reflectance-mode, with potential applications ranging from defect detection to biomedical imaging.