Tomographic Phase Microscopy

In visualizing transparent biological cells and tissues, the phase contrast microscope and its related techniques have been a cornerstone of nearly every cell biology laboratory. However, phase contrast methods are inherently qualitative and lack in 3-D imaging capability. We introduce a novel tomographic microscopy for quantitative three-dimensional mapping of refractive index in live cells and tissues using a phase-shifting laser interferometric microscope with variable illumination angle.