Quantitative phase imaging of cells through turbid media based on infrared digital holographic microscopy

Abstract Most biological cells live in turbid media that poses an obstacle to real-time measurement of morphology, which is significant in the biomedical field. Imaging through turbid environments is experimentally challenging using visible-light illumination for multiple scattering. Therefore, an infrared digital holographic method is reported herein to test biological samples through turbid media that can achieve real-time three-dimensional morphology measurement. Pure milk is employed as turbid media with 500 μ m maximum thickness. The correctness of phase reconstructed from the infrared system is proved compared to that of a visible-light system with less than a 10% deviation of phase difference.