Quantitative Phase Imaging Based on the Coded Aperture Correlation Holography Cross‐Correlation Reconstruction Method

Abstract Interference‐free coded aperture correlation holography (I‐COACH) is an innovative incoherent digital holography method capable of recording 3D scenes without lasers or dual‐wave interference, offering significant potential in diverse applications. quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is a noninvasive optical technique for extracting phase information of transparent samples, often requiring interference or diffraction combined with phase reconstruction algorithms. However, I‐COACH's partially coherent illumination and noninterference recording limit its phase extraction capability. A complex amplitude cross‐correlation method is introduced to overcome these limitations. This method avoids dual‐wave interference, numerical inversion, diffraction distance considerations, and coded phase mask (CPM) modulation effects. It reconstructs the sample's complex amplitude by determining the complex amplitudes of the point source hologram (PSH) and object hologram (OH) and applying cross‐correlation. Experimental results from I‐COACH and coherent diffraction imaging confirm its ability to reconstruct phase distributions effectively. The method also offers excellent 3D digital refocusing and remains applicable under coherent illumination. This approach expands the utility of I‐COACH, particularly for biomedical imaging.